Despite being criticised in a difficult season for Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo continues to make history and break records.
Ronaldo, who returned to United for a second spell last summer, is in the twilight of his career but can still produce those flashes of genius.
The 37-year-old has now helped United keep their hopes of a top-four finish alive by scoring a hat-trick in a 3-2 win against Norwich City.
“Yes, it is [remarkable],” interim manager Ralf Rangnick told MUTV when reflecting on Ronaldo’s performance. “Especially the second and third goals were brilliant goals.
“[He showed] a lot of physicality with the header and he was quite like against Tottenham today, the difference maker.”
We’ve taken a detailed look at his exceptional hat-trick record and some of his other impressive stats.
– After scoring three goals against Norwich City, Ronaldo now has 60 career hat-tricks. Forty-four came for Real Madrid, three for United, three for Juventus and 10 for Portugal.
– Forty of his 60 career hat-tricks have been scored at home games. Nineteen have come at away games and one was at a neutral ground.
– Having made 1117 appearances in his professional career, Ronaldo averages a hat-trick every 18.6 games.
– The striker has scored nine perfect hat-tricks, which consist of a goal with his right foot, a goal with his left foot and a headed goal.
– From the 50 hat-tricks in club football, 34 were scored in La Liga, three were in the Premier League and two were in Serie A. He’s also scored eight in the Champions League, two in the Copa del Rey and one in the FIFA Club World Cup.
– The Portugal international holds the record for most hat tricks in men’s international football (10) and nobody has scored more Champions League hat-tricks than him.
🗓—November 19, 2013
Ronaldo COOKED Sweden with an epic hat trick to send Portugal to the 2014 World Cup 🍳
(via @selecaoportugal)pic.twitter.com/J8vabLk0NZ
— B/R…