Tom Brady picks the right moment to watch a rarity from Cristiano Ronaldo: A Manchester United hat-trick at Old Trafford.
While the record seven-time Super Bowl winner is enjoying the start of his retirement, Ronaldo is showing that the 37-year-old legend still has goals to spare.
The header that completed Saturday’s treble against Tottenham needed something more from the Michael Jordan playbook, hitting a jump in the air to meet a corner as United won 3-2 and finished fourth in the Premier League.
Ronaldo was able to savor the applause of the crowd, with Brady providing a standing ovation after the 81st-minute substitute substituted for the winner.
And then GOAT took to the field to exchange post-match thoughts with one of the “Greatests of All Time” kicking a goal ball after Ronaldo took his career goals tally to 807. .
“Playing well,” Brady told Ronaldo. “You played very well.”
While the Portugal forward now has 59 career hat-tricks, only one other United was in jersey before Saturday – during his first six seasons at the club against Newcastle in January 2008.
United were on their way to winning the title 14 years ago. Now it’s just Ronaldo’s first season to qualify for the Champions League.
The title fight is between Manchester City and Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp’s team closing the leaders’ gap to three points again after beating Brighton 2-0 on Saturday via a Luis Diaz header and Mohamed Salah’s penalty .
There is some way to catch Salah’s league-leading 20 goals this season, with Ronaldo second on the leaderboard among eight players.
But at a time when his contribution has been weak, it was Ronaldo’s timely contribution. Especially as there was some uneasiness at United over the return of an injured Ronaldo to Portugal, while his team lost to Manchester City last Sunday.
“It was his best performance since I came, on and off the ball,” said United interim manager Ralph Rangnick. “It was really important that he showed us that he was still in a physical shape that he could perform at that kind of level.”
Rangnik could now joke with Ronaldo about the trip.
“Maybe it makes sense to send him to Portugal for three days,” said the German.
The opening goal in the 12th minute was certainly impressive when Fred flicked the ball for Ronaldo, who sent a swing shot from long distance to the top left corner.
Tottenham equalized Harry Kane’s penalty in the 35th minute when Alex Telles took a cross from Dejan Kulusewski.
But Ronaldo secured the lead by only three minutes, at the end of Jadon Sancho’s cutback and defeating Hugo Lloris.
“I think he was at his best in the box, very aggressive. He is hard to control,” said the Tottenham goalkeeper.
United are always prone to getting stuck these days, especially in defence. And Harry Maguire, turning Sergio Reguilon’s cross into his net, gifted Tottenham a point in the 72nd.
But then Ronaldo’s powerful header got it from the corner of Tails.
“Ronaldo does what he does best,” said United midfielder Paul Pogba. “You have the best striker in history in our team, that can’t be a problem. Today he showed why he is Cristiano Ronaldo.”
Even Tottenham manager Antonio Conte impressed despite being five points away from fourth place in the Champions League.
“To get to your age with this form, this mindset, the desire to win, you just have to have big compliments,” Conte said.
exile scrap
Ivan Toni’s late double in the second game of the day gave Brentford a 2–0 win over relegation-threatened Burnley and went nine points out of the drop zone.
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