Cristiano now greatest goal machine ever

From Back Page unfortunate own goal by skipper Harry Maguire (below).

But the Portuguese clinched the points with a goal that racked up the 59th hat-trick of his spectacular career.

United boss Ralf Rangnick said: “Ronaldo was decisive tonight.

“He was also energetic. He was part of the whole team when we had to defend, because we had to defend a lot.

“It was a top performance by him – but also by the rest of the team.

Training

“I didn’t expect him to score three goals, but I expected him to score.

“That’s why I decided to play him. His training session was so good on Thursday that I decided to start him and not bring him from the bench. “I spoke to him before training on Friday and he said his hip flexor was good enough to play.”

Spurs boss Antonio Conte said: “Without Cristiano, I honestly don’t think it would have been a good night for United.

“We didn’t deserve to lose the game. We had some very moments attacking and in fact, I thought we deserved to win.”

But Rangnick felt his team got exactly what they deserved.

He added: “We thoroughly deserved to win. The performance was aggressive enough at least.

“We showed the desire to win that game and that was very pleasing.

Boost

“I said before the game, the team who wants it more will be successful.”

Team-mate Paul Pogba, who performed well at times in midfield, said: Ronaldo was brilliant. I think that’s all we needed – a reaction.

“We scored beautiful goals. The mentality was there again today.

“This really is a boost. We needed it to go again for the other important games coming up.

“We want to finish in the top four and they were opponents who are looking for the top four also. It was a good win and a good performance.”