CRISTIANO RONALDO will have every right to be fuming after Manchester United’s embarrassing 6-3 defeat to Manchester City.
And he will be even more vexed when he learns that City new boy Erling Haaland has now equalled one of his goal stats… in just EIGHT games.
Erling Haaland netted his third hat-trick in just eight games
Ronaldo watches on as Haaland equals his hat-trick record
Haaland netted his third Premier League hat-trick in Sunday’s demolition derby.
And that means he draws himself level with Ronaldo for Prem trebles, with three each.
It has, however, taken the Portuguese legend 232 games to reach that number.
The Norwegian star’s first hat-trick of the season came against Crystal Palace, which he backed up with a trio of goals against Nottingham Forest a week later.
Haaland’s astonishing start to the season has seen him become the first player to ever score hat-tricks in three successive homes games.
And if this wasn’t already enough, he has also shattered the record for the quickest player to score three Prem hat-tricks, with the next fastest, Michael Owen, doing so in 48 games.
Haaland was joined in hat-trick club by Phil Foden with the striker laying on two goals for the Englishman, giving him another record as the player with the most goal contributions in a single Manchester derby.
Leandro Trossard was the only other player to score three over the weekend, with his treble almost helping Brighton claim a win in their first game of the post-Graham Potter era.
Ronaldo was an unused sub in today’s game, with Erik ten Hag giving a bizarre explanation as to why he didn’t use the forward.
The Dutchman revealed he didn’t bring on Ronaldo “out of respect for his big career,” as the 37-year-old looked on fuming.
