MANCHESTER
\nCristiano Ronaldo\u2019s 50th club career hat-trick and second Premier League treble of the season earned below-par Manchester United a 3-2 victory over Norwich City on Saturday amid scenes of fan protest at Old Trafford.
\nWith Tottenham Hotspur losing 1-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion earlier on Saturday, the door was open for United to close on the Champions League qualification places with victory over bottom side Norwich and they just about took advantage.
\nA first-half double from veteran striker Ronaldo seemingly put the hosts on course for a comfortable win in the sunshine, with Norwich struggling to keep pace.
\nHowever, Kieran Dowell\u2019s goal out of nowhere in first-half stoppage time got the visitors back in the contest, before Finnish forward Teemu Pukki completed the Norwich comeback to stun Old Trafford into silence seven minutes after the break.
\nFans who protested against the club\u2019s owners ahead of the match were singing \u201cyou\u2019re not fit to wear the shirt\u201d in the second half as their team were second best to a team seven points adrift of the Premier League safety zone.
\nUnited\u2019s France midfielder Paul Pogba was booed by his own fans as he was substituted before Ronaldo stole the show once again with a sensational winner 14 minutes from time to drag United out of the mire once more.
\nThe win, United\u2019s first in four games in all competitions, moved them above Arsenal, who lost 1-0 at Southampton, into fifth on 54 points from 32 matches, with Spurs now just three points in front. Norwich stay bottom on 21 points.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we need to speak anymore about Cristiano,\u201d United coach Ralf Rangnick said. \u201cHe made the difference once again, at least two goals were not easy to score.
\n\u201cHe showed against Tottenham and today he can be the difference maker. It is no coincidence he has scored the amount of goals he has.
\n\u201cBut I am not happy with that performance. If you want to defend properly in this league, you just have to be physical and not allow players to get past you so easily. This is what this team do not do well enough.\u201d
\nThousands of fans protested outside the stadium before the match against the Glazer family ownership, chanting \u201cget out of our club\u201d, among other things, with many not inside to see Ronaldo break the deadlock seven minutes in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANCHESTER Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s 50th club career hat-trick and second Premier League treble of the season earned below-par Manchester United a 3-2 victory over Norwich City on Saturday amid scenes of fan protest at Old Trafford. With Tottenham Hotspur losing 1-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion earlier on Saturday, the door was open for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1063,621],"class_list":{"0":"post-255683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo","9":"tag-manchester-united"},"yoast_head":"\n