Football legend Cristiano Ronaldo became the all-time leading men’s goalscorer in football history by scoring a hat-trick in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over top-four rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
After completing the hat-trick, Ronaldo’s goal tally took him to 807 goals, making him the top-scoring men’s player in history, according to FIFA statistics, as he surpassed Josef Bican who played between 1931 and 1955, his record being 805.
Ronaldo’s goal-scoring performance earned him a standing ovation from Brady and moved United into fourth place, while Tottenham are five points behind in seventh.
The 37-year-old’s 807 goal tally includes games for Sporting Lisbon (five goals), Manchester United (136), Real Madrid (450), Juventus (101) and the Portugal national team (115).
Ronaldo’s commitment to Manchester United was recently questioned when he reportedly flew home to Portugal instead of watching his team after being ruled out of their 4-1 defeat at Manchester City with a hip injury.
Surprisingly, United interim boss Ralf Rangnick conceded he did not know if Ronaldo was happy at the club.
“I haven’t asked him if he’s happy at Manchester at this club, he’s fit again, resumed training yesterday and we shall see which formation we will line up with tomorrow,” Rangnick said before the Spurs game.
Ronaldo’s hat-trick featured three different types of goals – a brilliant strike from distance, a close-range finish after a good team build up and a trademark bullet header.
The football legend opened the scoring and put United ahead in the 12th minute when he struck a brilliant 25-yard shot that left Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris with no chance.
Spurs captain Harry Kane equalised with a 35th minute penalty which was awarded after a handball from United defender Alex Telles.
Ronaldo had his second goal of the game as United went ahead three minutes later after a cross by Jadon Sancho was tapped home by the Portuguese star.
An own goal from United centre-back and captain Harry Maguire in the 72nd minute levelled the scores at 2-2 before Ronaldo claimed his hat-trick and the three points for United with a trademark powerful header with nine minutes remaining.
