The 37-year-old has scroed twice against Norwich in the first half
Manchester United fans ripped into a Lionel Messi supporter after Cristiano Ronaldo struck a sumptuous hat-trick against Norwich City in the Premier League.
The Portuguese, who has had a sharp decline in form since the turn of the year, was at the receiving end of boos from the home crowd early on. However, he responded with two goals inside the opening stanza to give the Red Devils a 2-0 cushion before Kieran Dowell pulled one back for the Canaries.
Ronaldo’s first of the afternoon was a simple yet powerful finish into an empty net following a cut-back from Anthony Elanga in the seventh minute. It was his first goal in all competitions since the hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur in the league a few weeks ago.
Another 25 minutes later, Ronaldo doubled United’s advantage by rising the highest to meet a corner from Alex Telles, heading the ball beyond the Norwich ‘keeper Tim Krul.
After Norwich fought back to 2-2, Ronaldo curled in a fabulous free-kick for his third Premier League hat-trick, second this season and 60th of his career. He now has 15 league goals for the season.
Manchester United fans respond to Messi fan’s troll
As the boos rang out against Ronaldo early on, a few Messi fans savoured the moment, with some taking to Twitter to poke fun at the star for the incident.
One particular account with the name ‘ganesh’ with a Messi photo in an Argentinian jersey on display appeared to relish the moment. However, after Ronaldo’s brace, Manchester United fans got back at him with sarcastic responses, with some even pointing to Messi’s struggles at PSG.
The Argentine, who joined the Parisians in a sensational move from Barcelona last summer, has struggled to score goals. In 28 games this season, he has struck only eight goals across competitions, with a mere three of them coming in Ligue 1 in 20 games. Ronaldo, by comparison, has 21 across competitions, despite all the talk of his struggles.
Here are some of the best reactions on Twitter:
Manchester United have made the most of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur’s defeats earlier in the day. They have leapt above the Gunners to fifth in the standings, just three behind Spurs, with six games remaining.
