Ronaldo trolled after Man City star Haaland equals Man United icon's EPL hat-trick tally in debut season

Manchester United's iconic striker Cristiano Ronaldo remained a mute spectator on Sunday when his side suffered a demolition at the hands of Manchester City thanks to hat-tricks from Erling Haaland and Phil Foden in a 6-3 victory at Etihad Stadium.

The Portuguese talisman's chances of featuring in the Red Devils' starting XI were slim today as Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial returned to training earlier this week. Ronaldo would have hoped for Erik ten Hag to bring him off the bench as City's young stars wreaked havoc on United's defence. However, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner appeared grim and helpless from the dugout as he witnessed one of the stars of the night, Haaland, continue to break Premier League records.

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The Norwegian, who has 14 Premier League and 3 Champions League goals for City since his move from Borussia Dortmund this summer, scored twice before half-time and then sealed a hat-trick in the second half. It was the third consecutive home game where the 22-year-old has scored with three strikes in a game for City - the first time anyone has ever done it.

Haaland also became the third City player to score a hat-trick versus Manchester United after Horace Barnes in October 1921 and Francis Lee in December 1970.

Manchester City is also just the third side in the history of England's top-flight to have two players score hat-tricks in a single game after Arsenal vs Southampton (2003) and Leicester vs Southampton (2019).

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What's interesting is that Haaland has now matched Ronaldo's total number of Premier League hat-tricks. The Norway international has scored three hat-tricks from just eight games in his debut season, while the Portuguese legend scored as many hat-tricks from 232 games.

Several City fans and those who believe Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) star Lionel Messi is greater than Ronaldo took to Twitter to troll the Manchester United icon. Here's a look at some of the reactions on the micro-blogging site:

However, notwithstanding this comparison, several Ronaldo fans supported the legendary striker and called the comparison between the two ridiculous and uncalled for. Some users said drawing parallels between the Portuguese star, who has won five Champions League titles, five Ballon d'Or trophies and scored 699 goals in his club career to Haaland, who still has a long career ahead, does not make sense. Some CR7 fans also mentioned that this comparion between the two players is driven by arch-rival Lionel Messi's PR machinery.

Here's a look at what those who came out in support of Ronaldo over this stats said: