Paul Pogba has defended his Man United compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo following his hat-trick against Tottenham on Saturday.
The Portugal forward became football’s all-time leading scorer (at least according to FIFA’s records) with his treble in a critical 3-2 victory that vaulted Manchester United back into the top four.
Ronaldo had come under fire during a goalless streak of ten games, and there were allegations that his presence in the team was detrimental, but Pogba has debunked these claims, hailing United’s number seven as the greatest striker in history.
“He [Ronaldo] has never been a problem. You have the best striker in history in our team, he cannot be a problem. Today the performance from him and all the team was very brilliant,” Pogba said to the media post-game.
“Ronaldo was brilliant. I think that’s all we needed – a reaction. We scored beautiful goals. Even when we conceded a goal, we came back and scored again. The mentality was there again today.
“Everybody knows Cristiano – there’s no need to talk about him. That’s what he does. He didn’t play in the last game, but he comes back and scores three goals. Everybody’s happy.
“It was good today. You can hear the fans – they were pushing us and feeling it. I think today was a very good performance as a team and a very good reaction from the City game.
“We kept believing. In the second half we didn’t get the nice passing, and the movement I think wasn’t there. We gave them a bit of confidence, that’s why they scored. But we got a corner and scored the winning goal.”
Ronaldo’s hat-trick moves him into second place in the race for the Premier League golden boot, level on 12 goals with the Liverpool duo. He is, however, eight points behind runaway leader Mohamed Salah.
United move up to fourth position following their victory on Saturday, although they have played four more games than Arsenal, who are two points behind them.
