Ronaldo inspires United to victory - report and reaction

Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick gave Manchester United a 3-2 victory against us at Old Trafford on Saturday evening.

In an all-action contest between two sides with aspirations of finishing in the top four, we twice levelled after Ronaldo's first-half double, only to succumb to a header from the Portuguese international following Alex Telles' corner nine minutes from time.

The result was somewhat harsh on us following a gutsy performance that saw us create a number of chances, although our two goals came from a 38th-minute Harry Kane penalty following a handball by Telles and an own goal from United captain Harry Maguire after Sergio Reguilon's low centre 18 minutes from time.

Ben Davies earlier had an effort disallowed while the likes of Dejan Kulusevski and Matt Doherty got into some dangerous attacking positions, but we couldn't quite fashion that final shot on goal to take any points away from the north west and it was the Red Devils who took the win, although we still hold two games in hand on them in the race for the European qualifying spots, with much still to play for.

Ronaldo makes the difference for United

Ronaldo has maintained a good goalscoring record against us down the years with 11 in all competitions prior to this game - more than against any other Premier League side - and that continued with a first-half brace followed by his late third that decided the game for his side.

His opening goal on 12 minutes was a moment of quality as he collected Fred's flick around the corner following Raphael Varane's pass and lashed into the top corner from 25 yards, while his second was more routine as he converted Jadon Sancho's square ball from the left from six yards out, just three minutes after Kane had restored parity from the penalty spot.

In truth, we could count ourselves unlucky to have been behind at the break but those two goals ensured our bright first-half performance went unrewarded. Ronaldo had an early shot blocked by Eric Dier in the box - United's appeals for handball against the defender fell on deaf ears - but we were getting into some useful areas in attack and after Davies had an effort ruled out for offside, we were so nearly level at 1-1 on 26 minutes when Rodrigo Bentancur flicked on Heung-Min Son's corner and Dier sent a back-post header towards goal, but Diogo Dalot cleared off the line.

Doherty and Kulusevski threatened down the right of United's box but we couldn't truly capitalise until the latter beat Sancho and his cross was handled by Telles, with Kane scoring the resulting penalty on 35 minutes. Following Ronaldo's second goal, Kulusevski's delivery from the left was just nicked off the arriving Doherty by Kane while Hugo Lloris saved well from Sancho at the end of the first period.

The second half didn't yield quite as much in the way of chances, although Heung-Min Son was left frustrated when he hammered Kulusevski's low cut-back wide of the near post just beyond the hour mark. We deserved our leveller on 72 minutes, Maguire sliding in to accidentally convert at the near post from Reguilon's low cross following some excellent play at the edge of the box. Lloris had produced two good saves to deny Ronaldo his treble either side of that, but on 81 minutes the forward found the back of the net as he broke free of our defence to head Telles' corner high into the net, sparking loud celebrations among the home fans. We continued to push forward, Reguilon just unable to connect with a long ball into the box by substitute Harry Winks, while it needed a last-ditch sliding tackle from our Spanish left-back to prevent Sancho from adding a late fourth.

Kane goes joint fifth

Although Ronaldo added to his Spurs scrapbook - in his 13 league appearances against us, he has now been involved in 14 goals (eight scored, six assisted) - Kane's penalty was also significant as it saw him draw level with Frank Lampard as the fifth top scorer in Premier League history (177).

It also saw him equal Wayne Rooney's record of 94 Premier League away goals.

In terms of team news for the game, Antonio Conte made only one change from Monday night's 5-0 home win over Everton with Reguilon replacing the injured Ryan Sessegnon.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'After this type of performance, you deserve much more'

Antonio told Spurs TV after the game: "We have to be disappointed because after this type of performance, you deserve much more. At the same time, we have to be realistic and to know that twice we were good enough to come back here against United, in this stadium, in this atmosphere, that’s not easy, and we were good to do this. On the other hand, we have to improve with experience to manage the right way parts of the game. The game is not only one game, during the game there are four of five games, and we have to try to manage much better, to understand when we have to push a lot, when we have to increase the intensity, when we have to be calmer and to keep possession of the ball, not to be hurried in our decisions. I think under this aspect we have a lot of space for improvement. You are seeing a great improvement on the pitch, because I repeat, in the last games we are playing good games, playing very well, but at the same time, I’m here to explain a loss, and you know very well I don’t like to lose."

Highlights on Spurs TV

Match data

Goals: Manchester United - Ronaldo 12, 38, 81; Spurs - Kane 35 (pen), Maguire (OG) 72.

Yellow cards: Manchester United - Fred 35, Pogba 85; Spurs - Dier 30.

Referee: Jonathan Moss.

Venue: Old Trafford.

Weather: Sunny intervals, moderate breeze, 11 degrees.

Attendance: 73,458.