The Cristiano Ronaldo header that gave him a hat-trick, his 807th career goal and claimed this pivotal game in the late-season shootout for Champions League qualification oozed quality and desire.
Eight minutes remained when the 37-year-old bulldozed Matt Doherty aside, eyes fixed only on Alex Telles’s corner from the right, and connected his forehead to the ball as he cartwheeled through the air before hitting the turf.
From here ecstasy and the ringing out of “Viva Ronaldo” from home fans who could not quite believe their hero had done, again, what he loves to do: wrest the story his way.
Before the watching Tom Brady, a seven-times winner of the Super Bowl, Ronaldo’s hat-trick took him past Josef Bican’s all-time goalscoring record and bridged a gap of 14 years and 59 days since his last and only other for United – versus Newcastle in January 2008. It was the 59th of a supreme career: 44 for Real Madrid, 10 for Portugal and three for Juventus, the others. It followed Ronaldo’s return to Portugal last weekend when injured, a trip Ralf Rangnick was unaware of.
After his scintillating display, the interim manager offered a quip about his star man. “We were just joking that maybe it makes sense to send him to Portugal again and not train for two [days],” said Rangnick. “He was also energetic today. It was his best performance on and off the ball [for me]. He was part of the whole team when we had to defend, because we had to defend a lot.
“We cannot pretend it has always been like that [from him]. 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. I spoke to him before training on Friday and he said his hip flexor was good enough to play.”
Spurs had done a job on Manchester City last month via rapier breaks yet here they would mix it up via passages of keep-ball, as when Sergio Reguilón, Rodrigo Bentancur, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min exchanged passes between them.
Ronaldo’s opener, though, lit the stadium. Raphaël Varane tapped to Fred who backheeled to the No 7: with Eric Dier backing off the centre-forward struck a peach of a 25-yard finish past Hugo Lloris.
Cue delirium from the Old Trafford faithful and their side becoming a red blur in the following exchanges, Ronaldo dropping off the front to link with Diogo Dalot, and the shaven-headed Paul Pogba forcing a save from Lloris.
United do this, though. Dominate and convince that they are far superior then fall away. This was underlined when Ben Davies beat David de Gea and Antonio Conte celebrated before it was ruled offside. Could United assert true control, or would Spurs find a way to burgle their host as they did City? The answer seemed yes to the latter when a Son corner was headed goalward before Dalot cleared.
This conveyed how unstable United remained and they were to concede when those in white flooded their territory in a more patient approach, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg stepping up from his defensive-midfield role to add numbers. Nemanja Matic felled Kane and when Dier’s free-kick hit the wall Dejan Kulusevski collected, beat Jadon Sancho and crossed: the ball hit Telles and Jonathan Moss pointed to the spot.
Kane made no mistake, beating De Gea to the latter’s right, yet United had the perfect riposte three minutes later. Matic dropped a ball over the top, Sancho rolled a cross in from the left, and a delighted Ronaldo restored the lead.
United are the kings of the second-half collapse so here was another test. When Davies flung himself at a header, Son hoped to race in behind, and Bentancur slide-tackled Pogba, it signalled that Spurs were aware of the softness.
There was a flow to the contest that made it entertaining fare. At any moment either team might score, as when Kulusevski squared to Son and he missed from yards out. Conte’s men were disappointed but the way Højbjerg, Bentancur, Kulusevski and Cristian Romero squeezed United’s midfield – Pogba in particular – gave them every chance of another equaliser.
And so it proved. Kane held off Varane and the ball went left to Reguilón who crossed and a hapless Harry Maguire stabbed in for an own goal that sent the travelling support into party mode. But the captain was to be saved by Ronaldo and when the Portuguese was replaced soon after his game-winning bullet header the reception was rapturous.
While Rangnick is hopeful that the ill Bruno Fernandes can return for Tuesday’s visit of Atlético Madrid, Conte was left rueful. “Without Cristiano Ronaldo, for United it wouldn’t have been a good night,” he said.
