Ralf Rangnick admitted it is "a challenge" to manage Cristiano Ronaldo after he savoured the Manchester United striker's hat-trick in Saturday's 3-2 win against Tottenham.
Ronaldo gave United the lead on three occasions, and they eventually managed to cling on after a thumping header from the 37-year-old in the 81st minute again tilted the game the way of the hosts.
He struck an opener from 25 yards, sprinted to get on the end of Jadon Sancho's cross for his second, and delivered a performance that left Ronaldo's admirers purring in appreciation.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner was imperious, but it has not always been that way during his first season back at Old Trafford.
Before this game, Ronaldo had just one Premier League goal in 2022, and there have been questions raised about whether he will remain a United player next season.
Rangnick was asked about what it takes to manage such a superstar figure, who reached 807 career goals on the way to sinking Antonio Conte's visitors, who twice equalised through a Harry Kane penalty and Harry Maguire own goal.
"It is challenging, and it is a challenge with a player like him," the United interim manager told Sky Sports. "But he showed today that he's still got the quality to play for a club like Manchester United.
"But he's also a part of the team and if we want to be successful at the end of the season, we can only do it together."
Ronaldo missed the Manchester derby last week with a hip flexor injury. Former United captain Roy Keane was among those who asked whether there was perhaps more behind Ronaldo being sidelined for that game, a suspicion Rangnick has denied.
The German was floored by how good Ronaldo was against Tottenham, a real throwback to his peak years at Real Madrid.
"At least since I arrived, his best performance," Rangnick said. "Not only because he scored three goals, two brilliant goals... he was also energetically good.
"He was part of the whole team when we had to defend, and we had to defend a lot. Top performance by him, but also by the rest of the team."
There is a theory that Ronaldo is now the world's all-time record scorer, overtaking Josef Bican, an Austrian-Czech who was prolific in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
Official records from that time can be difficult to ratify, and Czech FA experts have previously put Bican's figure at 821 goals rather than the often-stated figure of 805.
Rangnick is more concerned with what Ronaldo is achieving in the present day.
"I didn't expect him to score three goals, but I expected him to score, that's why I decided to play him even though he only resumed training on Thursday," Rangnick said.
"His training session on Thursday was so good, that's why I [decided to] bring him from the start and not have him on the bench, and in the end, it was the right decision.
"He didn't train for a week, and I wasn't sure if his hip flexor was good enough to let him play.
"I had a conversation with him before the training session on Friday, and he told me that he's fully fit and he can play, and that's why he started."
Harry Kane stars with hat-trick and two assists as Bayern Munich batter Bochum
Harry Kane was the star of the show with a hat-trick and two assists as Bayern Munich maintained their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga after hammering Bochum 7-0.
The hosts ran riot with the England captain scoring just minutes after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s opener and goals from Matthijs de Ligt and Leroy Sane gave them a 4-0 lead at half-time.
Their dominance continued after the break as Kane scored from the spot and assisted Mathys Tel before earning his first hat-trick for Bayern with minutes to go.
Kane’s excellent start with Bayern means he has now scored seven goals in five league matches as the defending Bundesliga champions sit top of the table.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Marco Reus’ second-half goal earned Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 win over Wolfsburg while former Chelsea striker Timo Werner scored the only goal for RB Leipzig in their victory at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Hoffenheim won 2-0 at Union Berlin thanks to goals from Andrej Kramaric and Maximilian Beier, while Werder Bremen were 2-1 winners against Cologne. Davie Selke put the visitors ahead, but Rafael Borre and Justin Njinmah claimed the three points.
Ermedin Demirovic’s double earned 10-man FC Augsburg a 2-1 victory over Mainz, who had taken the lead through Ludovic Ajorque. Arne Engels was sent off in the 62nd minute, but Augsburg held on.
Joao Cancelo’s 89th-minute goal completed an amazing comeback by Barcelona as they scored three times in the final 10 minutes to beat Celta Vigo 3-2 in LaLiga.
Rafael Benitez’s Celta put in an excellent display and looked home and hosed as they went 2-0 up after 76 minutes when Tasos Douvikas added to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s excellent first-half goal.
But they succumbed to an incredible late rally that no one saw coming as Robert Lewandowski scored twice in four minutes before former Manchester City defender Cancelo won it with one minute of normal time left.
The comeback will paper over the cracks of what was a worrying display for Barca, who were cut open at will by a vibrant Celta side, but Xavi’s men go to the top of the table with the three points.
Benitez will be highly enthused by what he saw from his team, even if they are just one point above the drop zone.
Barcelona climbed above Girona, who continued their excellent start to the season with a 5-3 win over Mallorca, with goals coming from David Lopez, Artem Dovbyk, Ivan Martin, Yangel Herrera and Savio. Vedat Muriqi and Abdon Prats’ brace replied for Mallorca. Sevilla and Osasuna drew 0-0.
AC Milan drew level with city rivals Inter at the top of Serie A after a 1-0 win over Verona.
Rafael Leao’s early goal did the damage, though Inter can go clear later in the weekend.
Juventus missed the chance to go top after they slumped to a 4-2 defeat at Sassuolo.
The Bianconeri had claimed 10 points from an unbeaten start, but came unstuck at the Mapei Stadium as Sassuolo battled to a second league win.
Armand Lauriente, Domenico Berardi, Andrea Pinamonti and an own goal from Federico Gatti sealed the three points for Sassuolo. Juventus levelled twice through Matias Vina’s own goal and Federico Chiesa.
Nantes won an eight-goal thriller 5-3 against Lorient in Ligue 1.
Goals from Matthis Abline, Eray Comert, Mostafa Mohamed, Florent Mollet and Moses Simon did the damage, with Eli Kroupi, Romain Faivre and Tosin Aiyegun responding for the visitors in a topsy-turvy match.
I’ll relish this’ says Dominic Calvert-Lewin after Everton break their duck
Dominic Calvert-Lewin took a swipe at the Everton boo boys after marking his return from injury with a goal in the 3-1 win at Brentford.
The England striker was jeered by some fans after he went off with a fractured cheekbone during the 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa at the start of the season.
But he showed the Toffees what they have been missing by climbing off the bench to wrap up their first win of the season.
“Football is a funny old game,” Calvert-Lewin told Sky Sports.
“When I came off against Aston Villa my own fans booed me off. Today they cheered me. I’ll relish this and take the rest with a pinch of salt.”
James Tarkowski had headed the Toffees back into the lead against his old club after Mathias Jensen cancelled out Abdoulaye Doucoure’s opener before half-time.
Then Calvert-Lewin grabbed only his second goal since last October when he collected James Garner’s through-ball and slotted home.
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Boss Sean Dyche insisted a vastly improved display had been on the cards for a while despite picking up just one point from their first five matches.
He said: “I don’t think it came from anywhere. The signs have been there but you have to change the storyline, you have to take your chances.
“To come in at 1-1 was a bit of a head-scratcher, so to come out in the second half and be so calm again was very pleasing.
“I’m very pleased with the whole performance. My job is to look at the performances, win or lose. We’ve deserved more but you’ve got to force it and today we did.
“We had a good chat in the week with the players and said it’s us who have to change the story.
“It’s tough playing well and not getting results. That’s where you should grow and have on-pitch maturity and play under pressure and that’s what we did today.”
The Bees, by contrast, were distinctly off-colour and are still without a win at home this season.
Boss Thomas Frank said: “It was a very bad day. Everton deserved to win, we performed badly.
“We performed very well in our first first five games, but today was a bad one.
“It was very unlike this group of fantastic players, but we are good at bouncing back from a bad performance and I expect us to bounce back.”
Joao Cancelo helps Barcelona complete incredible comeback against Celta Vigo
Joao Cancelo’s 89th-minute goal completed an amazing comeback by Barcelona as they scored three times in the final 10 minutes to beat Celta Vigo 3-2.
Rafael Benitez’s Celta put in an excellent display and looked home and hosed as they went 2-0 up after 76 minutes when Tasos Douvikas added to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s excellent first-half goal.
But they succumbed to an incredible late rally that no one saw coming as Robert Lewandowski scored twice in four minutes before former Manchester City defender Cancelo won it with one minute of normal time.
The comeback will paper over the cracks of what was a worrying display for Barca, who were cut open at will by a vibrant Celta side, but Xavi’s men go to the top of the table with the three points.
Benitez will be highly enthused by what he saw from his team, even if they are just one point above the drop zone.
They looked more like the team at the top of the table with an incisive first-half performance, which was rewarded with a 19th-minute lead.
Barca could not clear a corner properly and on the second phase Lucca De La Torre slipped in Larsen and the Norwegian produced a fine shot into the bottom corner with a finish his compatriot Erling Haaland would have been proud of.
They should have led 2-0 five minutes before the break but Marc-Andre Ter Stegen produced a one-handed save to deny Larsen. The rebound fell to Jonathan Bamba and he was primed to score until Oriol Romeu produced a fine block. The danger was still not over as the ball fell to De La Torre, but he blazed over with the goal at his mercy.
Celta thought they should have had a penalty early in the second half as their pace caused a constant threat on the break, but VAR ruled in the hosts’ favour.
There was no escape, though, in the 76th minute as the visitors got their deserved second, which at the time looked to have sealed the points.
They launched a quick counter-attack and Douvikas raced on to Iago Aspas’ perfect pass to convert with a bobbled finish.
But Barca showed, even playing away from the Nou Camp, they can have a fortress in Estadi Olímpic Lluis Companys as they produced a fine three-goal salvo in eight minutes.
Lewandowski started things off when he latched on to Joao Felix’s ball and hooked home in off the crossbar.
Three minutes later it was all square as the Poland striker tucked home from Cancelo’s cross.
Cancelo then took stage to win it in the 89th minute when he arrived in the box to convert Gavi’s cross and seal a sixth succesive win in all competitions.
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