Has Rangnick turned a corner with Ronaldo?

James Shearman

• 13 Mar 2022 04:24 CDT
• 3 min read

Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick has admitted that managing Cristiano Ronaldo is a 'challenge', but praised him for his match-winning display against Tottenham.

Ronaldo scored a remarkable hat-trick in Saturday's victory over Spurs at Old Trafford, having not played in the previous game.

The 37-year-old suffered a second hip flexor injury of the season and flew back home to Portugal as United lost to rivals Manchester City.

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This called both the striker's happiness and relationship with Rangnick into question.

But, the virtuoso performance against Antonio Conte's men went a long way to denounce those rumours.

Indeed, one would think that Rangnick's relationship with Ronaldo has strengthened greatly on the back of a significant win in the race for Champions League qualification.

Has Rangnick turned a corner with Ronaldo?

Rangnick had been struggling to get the best out of Ronaldo in his short time at the club, prior to yesterday's game.

But, the faith he showed in his star man certainly paid off with a hat-trick reminiscent of Ronaldo's prime years at Real Madrid.

''I didn’t expect him to score three goals, but I expected him to score,'' Rangnick said in his post-match press conference. ''That’s why I decided to play him.''

That said, Ronaldo's goal-scoring prowess has never been in doubt, with him now joint second in the golden boot race (12).

The part of the Portugal international's game that has been heavily criticised, particularly this season, is his work rate off the ball.

''He was also energetic today. He was part of the whole team when we had to defend, because we had to defend a lot,'' Rangnick explained.

"We also have to admit that it has not always been like that in the past weeks and months. Today showed exactly that he is still in physical shape to perform at that level."

Although, while the German boss had plenty of praise for the top goal scorer in football history, he admitted that it isn't always so easy.

''It’s a challenge with a player like Ronaldo, but he showed today that he still has the quality to play for a club like Manchester United.''