Manchester United vs Tottenham: Player ratings and highlights as Cristiano Ronaldo breaks goal record

Manchester United 3-2 Tottenham (Ronaldo ’12, 38, ’81 Kane P ’35, Maguire OG ’72)

Cristiano Ronaldo, stopping the ball dead 30 yards from goal, will have had fleeting visions of Porto 2009. Twenty-six minutes later, the most neurotic of record collectors must have glimpsed Josef Bican in his mind’s eye as he tapped past Hugo Lloris for goal No 806 – and with that, he became the top scorer in men’s football history.

No 807 was still to come, rising above Matt Doherty for just his second ever United hat-trick, his last act of the night before leaving the pitch to a standing ovation. It had won United the game and for once, he did not feel as if his individual brilliance were undermined by fighting a losing battle.

For the opener, there will be question marks from Antonio Conte about why, with Eric Dier dropping off and both Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg around him, Ronaldo was ever given that kind of space.

Lloris too, had all the time to watch the trajectory into the top corner but left it too late as possibly the greatest ever to do it (Tom Brady, incidentally watched on from the stands) launched into top spot past Bican in Fifa’s record books.

Tottenham were not disheartened at least by the opener, Dejan Kulusevski wriggling past Jadon Sancho to engineer a cross which hit Alex Telles’ outstretched hand.

More on Tottenham Hotspur FC

The penalty was smashed into the bottom left by Harry Kane, his 94th away Premier League goal putting him level with Wayne Rooney for a record of his own.

United were left irate having been (correctly) denied a similar call for a spot-kick at the other end when Ronaldo’s strike had hit Dier’s arm. No handball, said Jon Moss.

Yet the scores were level for just three minutes, before Ronaldo struck again. Nemanja Matic, who in truth had struggled to keep the pace, played a one-time ball over the top of Spurs’ defence, Jadon Sancho narrowly beating Sergio Reguilon’s offside trap to play a perfectly weighted pass to Ronaldo in the middle.

United’s joy is ever precarious, nonetheless – it is only ever a Harry Maguire howler away from being dashed. Kane had done well to hold the ball up on the edge of the box, allowing Cristian Romero time to roam towards goal.

There was no danger of the Argentine, who had clearly strayed offside, actually scoring though, and there was no need for Maguire’s hapless surge into his own net.

Not that it hadn’t been coming; United had started the evening on the back foot and were guilty of inviting Spurs onto them from the start of the second half.

The midfield was disrupted by the absences of Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay, but United still have to get the basics right. Still, it fell to Ronaldo to rescue Rangnick with three very different goals.

To think, there were Spurs fans debating this week whether they would fare better if Ronaldo did play after his absence for the Manchester derby.

Whatever you make of his impact on Ralf Rangnick’s system, and whether United might be better served by a less static and more well-suited modern centre-forward, Sky Sports’ Kelly Cates put it best.

“There’s a lot of talk about what Ronaldo doesn’t do for Manchester United, but let’s talk about what he does do.”

Related Stories

Player ratings

Manchester United

  • De Gea – 6
  • Dalot – 6
  • Varane – 6.5
  • Maguire – 5
  • Telles – 5
  • Matic – 5.5
  • Fred – 7
  • Pogba – 7
  • Sancho – 7.5
  • Rashford – 5
  • Ronaldo – 9.5

Substitutes:

  • Elanga – 6
  • Lindelof – 6

Tottenham Hotspur

  • Lloris – 5.5
  • Doherty – 6
  • Romero – 6
  • Dier – 5.5
  • Davies – 5.5
  • Reguilon – 6
  • Hojbjerg – 6.5
  • Bentancur – 6
  • Kulusevski – 7
  • Son – 7
  • Kane – 7.5

Substitutes:

  • Lucas – 6
  • Bergwijn – N/A
  • Winks – N/A


from Football | News and analysis from the Premier League and beyond | iNews https://ift.tt/GDIgrF9

Post a Comment

[blogger]

MKRdezign

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

copyright webdailytips. Powered by Blogger.
Javascript DisablePlease Enable Javascript To See All Widget