Cristiano Ronaldo Received A Spine-Tingling Reception When Leaving The Pitch After Spurs Hat-Trick

The 37-year-old has had a fairly quiet 2022 so far but he turned up at the right time to keep United's top four hopes alive.

Fans inside Old Trafford showed their appreciation, singing 'Viva Ronaldo' and clapping the Portugal international as he went down the tunnel.

Fred's lovely backheel reached the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, who hammered the ball past a helpless Hugo Lloris.

Tottenham grew into the contest and received a penalty in the 35th minute after a Dejan Kulusevski cross hit Alex Telles' arm.

Harry Kane fired home for his 11th of the season, but United found themselves ahead again three minutes later.

Jadon Sancho managed to stay onside and crossed for Ronaldo to tap home his second of the game.

Sergio Reguilon's drive needed dealing with, but the United captain accidentally turned into his own net.

Nine minutes from time, Ronaldo emphatically headed home Telles' corner to seal all three points.

Previous record holder Josef Bican scored 805 professional career goals.

United interim manager Ralf Rangnick paid tribute to Ronaldo in his post-match interview and explained he did much more than score the vital goals.

"[Ronaldo] was also energetic today. He was part of the whole team when we had to defend, because we had to defend a lot. It was a top performance by him, but also by the rest of the team," Rangnick said.

"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 and not bring him from the bench. I spoke to him before training on Friday and he said his hip flexor was good enough to play.

"He can do it [get 70,000 people off their feet], but again he can also do it only with the team. A fantastic performance.

"It was not just the three goals today it was also he was part of the team when they were in possession of the ball."