Football: Ronaldo makes history as treble sinks Spurs, Liverpool close gap on Man City

BRIGHTON -- Cristiano Ronaldo became the all-time leading men's goalscorer in football history as his brilliant hat-trick inspired Manchester United's 3-2 win against Tottenham, while Liverpool closed the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City with a 2-0 victory at Brighton on Saturday.

Ronaldo had netted just once in his previous 10 games amid speculation that the Portugal striker was considering his future after less than a season of his second spell with United.

The 37-year-old's commitment was questioned when he reportedly jetted to Portugal last weekend rather than watch his team after being ruled out of their 4-1 defeat at Manchester City with a hip injury.

Even United interim boss Ralf Rangnick conceded he didn't know if Ronaldo was happy at the club.

But Ronaldo proved his commitment to the United cause with a superb display to single-handedly dispatch Tottenham at Old Trafford.

With recently retired NFL legend Tom Brady watching from the stands, Ronaldo bagged his first United treble since 2008.

His brilliant 25-yard drive put United ahead in the 12th minute before Harry Kane equalized with a 35th minute penalty awarded for Alex Telles' handball.

Ronaldo restored United's lead three minutes later from Jadon Sancho's cross, but Harry Maguire's 72nd minute own goal threatened to ruin his evening.

However, Ronaldo headed home from Telles' corner in the 81st minute to claim his 807th career goal, making him the top-scoring men's player in history, according to FIFA statistics, as he surpassed Josef Bican.

Ronaldo's heroics earned a standing ovation from Brady and lifted United into fourth place, while Tottenham are five points behind them in seventh.

"Today it was his best performance, at least since I arrived. He was good in training on Thursday and that is why I decided to start him," Rangnick said.

"A fantastic performance. It was not just the three goals, it was also he was part of the team when they were in possession of the ball.

"We showed the kind of reaction we were due after the bad second half at City."

At the Amex Stadium, Luis Diaz opened the scoring for Liverpool with a 19th minute header and Mohamed Salah netted with a 61st minute penalty awarded after Yves Bissouma's handball.

Jurgen Klopp's side have won their last eight league games, keeping the pressure on City, with the champions playing at Crystal Palace on Monday.

Salah has reached 20 goals in a Premier League season for the fourth time, with his latest strike coming at just the right time amid his tense contract negotiations.

Klopp said on Friday it is up to Salah whether he signs a new deal, a claim that was followed by the Egypt forward's agent tweeting a series of laughing emojis just minutes later.

Salah's long-term value to Liverpool is immense, but of more immediate concern to Klopp will be the knock that saw him replaced by Diogo Jota soon after his first goal in four games.

With a testing trip to Arsenal looming on Wednesday followed by an FA Cup quarter-final at Nottingham Forst, Klopp will hope his star makes a quick recovery.

"Something was not right. I think there was a situation where his foot got stretched. We'll have to see," Klopp said.

While City are in fine form, Liverpool's hot streak is equally impressive.

The Reds have scored 21 goals and conceded just twice in their winning run, while also keeping a third successive league clean sheet for the first time this term.

On the title race, Klopp said: "It's always the same, you expect Manchester City to win every game when you watch them play.

"The only thing we can do is as win as many football games as possible. We're ready, we don't need to call it a title race, we just want to win games."

Brentford boosted their bid to avoid relegation with a 2-0 home win against third bottom Burnley thanks to a pair of late goals from Ivan Toney.

Agence France-Presse

Liverpool recovers to beat Tottenham 2-1, takes 6-point lead

LIVERPOOL, England — Tottenham transformed its first-minute fortunes against Liverpool, just not the outcome.

A goal after 47 seconds by Tottenham captain Harry Kane at Anfield on Sunday contrasted with the misery of Madrid in June when a penalty was conceded 22 seconds into the Champions League final against the same team.

But just as Mohamed Salah netted the penalty that set Liverpool on its way to a sixth European Cup, the striker also scored from the spot again 148 days on against Tottenham to complete a domestic comeback.

With a 2-1 victory — aided by captain Jordan Henderson’s equalizer — Liverpool restored its six-point lead at the top of the league.

“We are very critical of ourselves,” Henderson said, “and always want to do better.”

Liverpool is chasing its first league title since 1990. For Tottenham, it is finding a way to rise from 11th place closer to the top four where it has finished for four consecutive seasons.

With 12 points from 10 games, the north London club is enduring its worst start since Mauricio Pochettino took charge in 2014.

“We have the belief and the confidence,” Pochettino said. “But we didn’t find a way to keep possession.”

At least Mousa Sissoko found some early redemption on Merseyside, having handled to concede that penalty in the 2-0 final loss.

Launching a counterattack after 30 seconds on Merseyside, Sissoko’s surging run left a trail of red shirts in his wake before he picked out Son Heung-min on the left wing.

The South Korea forward brushed past Henderson before his shot hit the bar, helped by a deflection off Dejan Lovren.

Kane was primed to connect with the rebound, sending a stooping header past Alisson Becker with only 47 seconds on the clock.

“The best thing about my team today was that you couldn’t see any influence of the goal to be honest. We weren’t nervous, anything,” Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said.

“We followed the plan and filled the plan with passion, emotion, everything in the right way.”

Just finding a way past Paulo Gazzaniga was a problem.

Even with first-choice goalkeeper Hugo Lloris out until the new year with an elbow injury, the understudy more than lived up to the task.

There was a double save to deny Salah and Roberto Firmino before getting a fingertip to Virgil van Dijk’s header.

But not even the power of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shot from outside the penalty area was enough to find a way past Gazzaniga approaching the half hour.

He was proving a frustrating barrier to the equalizer, scrambling away Firmino’s header and then Lovren’s attempt from the resulting corner at the start of the second half.

Having swarmed Tottenham since conceding in the first minute, Liverpool switched off again to allow Son to embark on a counterattack.

Rounding Alisson, Son reached a tight angle and could only hit the crossbar.

How costly it proved.

Danny Rose failed to clear the ball and then only helped Fabinho’s cross onto the unmarked Henderson, who volleyed the ball past the Tottenham left back into the net.

Gazzaniga was finally beaten, and he was again by Salah’s penalty after Aurier dispossessed Sadio Mane before fouling the Senegal forward as he tried to clear.

With Kane having a header blocked with almost the final move of the game, Tottenham remains firmly in midtable, without an away win in the league since January.

“We can say we were very competitive,” Pochettino said. “We scored early and then I think we suffered in the first half. They were better than us.

“In the second half we controlled more, I think we played more the game that we wanted to play.”

Liverpool, which was held by Manchester United last weekend, has 28 points from a possible 30. Klopp’s side is six points ahead of Manchester City ahead of the second-place champions’ visit to Anfield in two weeks.

source: sports.inquirer.net