Norwich City give a great performance, but Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty is the difference between the two sides in this Premier League encounter at the Theatre of Dreams!
Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo scored a second-half penalty to give Ralf Rangnick’s side a 1-0 victory against Norwich City at Old Trafford on Saturday.
United keeper, David de Gea, was required on numerous occasions to save the home side, as bottom of the English Premier League (EPL) side, Norwich, competed admirably.
“I haven’t seen that many teams play against the top teams like Norwich did,” Rangnick said after the game. “They didn’t play like a bottom team.”
“In the end, we need to be able to compete on that kind of level and be physically ready. There’s still room for improvement in this area,” the German coach continued.
Ronaldo saw a shot parried away by Tim Krul in the 37th minute and the home goalkeeper also pushed over a Harry Maguire header just before halftime, after Alex Telles hit the crossbar with a deflected, early free kick.
United were awarded a penalty on 73 minutes when Scott McTominay crossed a ball into the box and Ronaldo was hauled down by Max Aarons.
The superstar forward made no mistake with the spot-kick, smashing it into the left-hand corner.
There was some concern for Victor Lindelöf during the match when he went down after pointing to his chest. However, he was able to walk off the pitch unassisted.
Red Devils‘ skipper, Maguire, said after the match that Lindelöf “felt a little bit of discomfort”, but that the Swede was fine in the dressing room.
The visitors increased the pressure in the closing stages and De Gea rescued United again when he clawed out an Ozan Kabak header, before Eric Bailly foiled a Billy Gilmour strike with a last-gasp lunge.
“It’s another clean sheet but [there is] still a lot of work to do,” Rangnick concluded.
The result lifts United to fifth place in the EPL table, on 27 points from 16 games, behind fourth-placed West Ham United on goal difference. Meanwhile, Norwich stay bottom on 10.
