MY ACCOUNT
Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial penalty gave Ralf Rangnick a second successive Premier League win as Manchester United claimed an unconvincing 1-0 victory at Norwich City.
United laboured for long periods at a sodden Carrow Road but were given a chance to break an unexpectedly long deadlock when Max Aarons was adjudged to have pulled down Ronaldo.
The Portugal forward stepped up to convert the spot-kick 15 minutes from time, his emphatic finish proving the difference despite a spirited effort from the league’s bottom club.
United are fifth, level on points with fourth-placed West Ham but with an inferior goal difference, while Norwich remain three points adrift of safety.
Alex Telles saw a free-kick deflected onto the crossbar, but United struggled to break down the division’s leakiest defence in the first half and were frustrated by Tim Krul in the Norwich goal.
Ronaldo was thwarted by a diving save from the Dutchman while Harry Maguire saw a header tipped over in the closing stages of the first 45 minutes.
Norwich provided more of an attacking threat in the second half and only a flying save from David de Gea prevented Teemu Pukki from firing the opener into the top-left corner.
But they were left aghast when Darren England pointed to the spot despite Ronaldo appearing to go down easily under contact from Aarons.
There was no doubt about Ronaldo’s effort from 12 yards, which he lashed into the bottom-left corner – two stunning saves from De Gea to deny Ozan Kabak and the kind of United defending that was often lacking during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tenure ensuring it was enough for all three points.
What does it mean? Rangnick getting results
United were far from convincing and Norwich could consider themselves unlucky not to get a share of the spoils.
While there is clearly a lot of work still to be done, United have two league wins under Rangnick without conceding a goal, albeit against Crystal Palace and Norwich. Ernest Mangnall in 1903 was the only other United manager to keep a clean sheet in his first two league matches.
That is legitimate progress for a team who were porous towards the end of Solskjaer’s reign.
Rare hat-trick for Ronaldo
With his penalty, Ronaldo became only the third United player to score for three different managers in the same season, having done so for Solskjaer, Michael Carrick and now Rangnick this term. James Hanson and Joe Spence both did so in the 1926-27 campaign.
He could have had a second late on but somehow scooped an effort over the bar from point-blank range.
De Gea denies Norwich
De Gea kept his 200th career clean sheet and the fact United needed him to produce five saves to seal the points was indicative of the struggle this game was for Rangnick’s men.
Key Opta Facts
– Norwich have lost nine of their past 11 Premier League meetings with United (W2) – losing four in a row against them in league competition for the first time since a run of seven between December 1990 and August 1993.
– The Canaries have lost more Premier League games against United than they have versus any other side in the competition’s history (15).
– Norwich have lost five of their first eight home league games to a season for the third time in their history, also doing so in 2019-20 (Premier League) and 1946-47 (Third Division South).
– Ronaldo’s strike was United’s 50th away goal from the penalty spot – only Liverpool (60) have netted more such goals in the competition’s history.
What’s next?
United visit Brentford on Tuesday, while Norwich boss Dean Smith welcomes former club Aston Villa to Carrow Road.
