April 16, (THEWILL) – Manchester United were saved from an upsetting loss to Norwich in the English Premier League owing to another Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick in a 3-2 victory — despite both teams’ displaying terrible defending.
Ronaldo had put United ahead 2-0 in the first half, only for Kieran Dowell and Teemu Pukki to equalise for Norwich before the veteran attacker popped up with a late winner.
Outside the game, hundreds, if not thousands, of fans demonstrated against the Glazer family in a planned protest as THEWILL reported.
There were several apparent gaps in the stands at the start, but most seats were progressively filled until a larger influx after the 17th minute – symbolising Glazer’s ownership of the team for 17 years. The majority of the time, it was still full.
Ralf Rangnick’s side was under pressure following a string of poor results, and Norwich threatened to add to it – they could have taken the lead when Pukki ran through on goal. David de Gea beat him to keep the score goalless.
The Canaries’ own actions first relieved the pressure. United’s first goal came as a gift, with Ben Gibson losing control in his own penalty area to Anthony Elanga, who promptly passed it to Ronaldo for a simple tap-in and a deserved lead.
Norwich were poor after going behind and gave the ball away cheaply despite the hosts’ obvious press. United, meanwhile, looked assured, and Grant Hanley needed all of his wits to block a close-range Jadon Sancho effort on the half-hour mark, while Jesse Lingard’s first-timer struck Tim Krul’s midriff and rebounded away for a corner.
Ronaldo scored his second goal from the resulting set-piece. The Portuguese rose to meet Alex Telles’ in-swinging delivery, and Norwich failed to do anything to prevent him.
However, after Norwich had given United two easy goals, the favour was quickly returned either side of half-time. As a wave of yellow shirts charged up towards the back four, Dowell nodded in at the far post to halve the deficit.
From the goal, the most obvious fact remained that the home side had the unfortunate cost of an absence of defensive-minded midfielders.
The Norwich equaliser had more of that disastrous defending, with Telles out of position and Victor Lindelof indicating but doing nothing about it. Pukki slipped in between them and finished close to De Gea.
Norwich attempted to grab the lead almost immediately, with only De Gea’s right hand saving a powerful low effort from Milot Rashica — the same player was subsequently prevented by a last-ditch Diogo Dalot block. The Canaries looked incredibly dangerous as a result of United’s lack of defensive midfield presence and a dip in their own tempo.
However, Ronaldo provided a lifeline when he stood over a free-kick well beyond the penalty area. His strike was not particularly good, but it got past a shoddy defensive wall and was palmed in by a bewildered Krul onto the inside of the post.
The victory sees United jump from seventh to fifth place in the rankings, just three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.
However, Norwich has fallen farther behind the pack, and the Canaries are currently seven points short of safety with only three games remaining. United are on the rise, while Norwich appear to be moving in the opposite direction.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
