Manchester United are not a stronger team without Cristiano Ronaldo and cannot think about discarding the forward, according to Rio Ferdinand.
Ronaldo brought an emphatic end to a barren run in front of goal with a hat-trick in Saturday's 3-2 Premier League win over Tottenham at Old Trafford.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner had just one goal and no assists in his previous 10 games for United in all competitions prior to his impressive treble.
That led to questions whether the Red Devils would be better off without Ronaldo in their side, with the Portugal international having been left out at times by Ralf Rangnick.
But after bagging his 49th hat-trick at club level, including at least one in 13 consecutive seasons, Ferdinand rejected claims his former team-mate weakens United in any way.
"Without Cristiano Ronaldo, Man United would not still be in the Champions League," Ferdinand told The Mirror.
"Are United a stronger team without him? I cannot agree with that at all. If he is not playing with Man United then they would have gone out in the group stage.
"A player with his ability and his talent, who is as decisive as he is, who has shown it over the years and this season that he can make the difference.
"Man United are not a team who are in the position to think, 'OK, we are too good to have someone like that in our team'."
Ronaldo has now found the net 18 times in 31 games since returning to Old Trafford from Juventus in August – double that of any other United player.
That includes 12 goals in the Premier League, making the 37-year-old the competition's joint-second highest scorer this term, albeit 12 goals behind runaway leader Mohamed Salah.
Commenting on Ronaldo's display against Tottenham, Rangnick said it was the best performance he has seen from the ex-Real Madrid player during his time in interim charge.
"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."
Angers 2-4 Paris Saint-Germain: Lee and Barcola bag braces as Enrique's side restore six-point lead
Paris Saint-Germain restored their six-point lead at the Ligue 1 summit with a 4-2 victory over Angers.
Luis Enrique's side did the damage in the first half at Stade Raymond Kopa, with Lee Kang-In and Bradley Barcola both scoring twice to extend their unbeaten start to the season.
PSG broke through in the 17th minute through Lee, who doubled his and the visitors' tally when he turned in Marco Asensio's low cross three minutes later.
Asensio was the provider again as the Ligue 1 leaders made it 3-0 just after the hour mark, with his centre diverted in by Barcola.
The latter grabbed his second just before half-time when he headed in from Lee's cross.
Angers made the scoreline more respectable in stoppage time, with Esteban Lepaul and Emmanuel Biumla halving the deficit for the hosts.
Data Debrief: PSG make it 30 unbeaten on the road
Now unbeaten in 30 away Ligue 1 matches, PSG are the first team in the top five European leagues to reach that mark since Napoli in 2018.
Lee scored his first brace for the club, while Asensio assisted two goals in the same league match for the first time since doing so for Espanyol against Real Betis in October 2015 (three).
Although, it was not all plain sailing for PSG, who conceded two goals in second-half stoppage time for only the second time in their history (also against Barcelona in the 2016-17 Champions League).
As for Angers, they have become the first team in Ligue 1 history to lose 15 successive matches against the same opponent.
Juventus 2-0 Torino: Weah and Yildiz lift Bianconeri to third after Derby della Mole victory
Juventus climbed to third place in Serie A following a 2-0 victory over rivals Torino at the Allianz Stadium.
A goal in either half from Timothy Weah and Kenan Yildiz settled the Derby della Mole, and saw Thiago Motta's side extend their unbeaten start to the league season.
The Bianconeri broke through in the 18th minute when Vanja Milinkovic-Savic spilt a shot straight to Weah, who made no mistake from close range.
Weah thought he had doubled the lead in the 72nd minute, but the USA international was penalised for handball in the build-up to the opportunity.
However, Juve did put the contest to bed six minutes from time, when Yildiz nodded in Francisco Conceicao's deep cross at the far post.
Extending their unbeaten streak against Torino to 18 matches, Motta's side moved to within a point of Serie A leaders Napoli.
Data Debrief: Bianconeri extend unbeaten start with yet another clean sheet
Juventus have now registered nine clean sheets in Serie A this season, the most by any team in the big five European leagues.
Weah got the ball rolling, as he became the second American after Weston McKennie in December 2020 to score for the Bianconeri against Torino in Serie A.
Yildiz then sealed the victory. The 19-year-old became the third-youngest Juventus player to find the net in the Derby della Mole, after Felice Placido Borel (18 years and 243 days in 1932) and Bruno Nicole (18 years and 244 days in 1958).
Meanwhile, Torino have now suffered three successive defeats without scoring in Serie A for the first time since 2014.
Crystal Palace 0-2 Fulham: Smith Rowe and Wilson send Silva's side up to sixth
Emile Smith Rowe and Harry Wilson were on target in either half as Fulham triumphed 2-0 over 10-man Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Smith Rowe broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time, taking Raul Jimenez's pass into his stride before finishing past Dean Henderson.
Fulham forward Smith Rowe had another goal ruled out in the second half for offside, before Daichi Kamada's 76th-minute red card for a poor challenge on Kenny Tete made matters worse for the hosts.
Wilson, the two-goal hero against Brentford on Monday, made sure of all three points with seven minutes remaining, latching onto Alex Iwobi's superb throughball and slotting home.
The Wales international saw another late strike overturned for handball, but another London derby victory moved Marco Silva's side up to sixth place and saw them join a cluster of sides on 18 points.
Meanwhile, Palace's sixth league defeat of the season leaves them 17th and just a point clear of the relegation zone heading into the international break.
Data Debrief: Cottagers extend streak as super sub Wilson strikes again
Fulham have now kept a clean sheet in each of their last four away league games against Palace, not going longer without conceding against a single opponent on the road.
Now unbeaten in seven Premier League London derbies, the Cottagers are now on their joint-longest run without defeat in such matches.
Wilson sealed the victory with his third goal as a substitute in the space of a week. Only Collins John (four) has netted more times as a substitute for Fulham in a single season than the Wales international.
A difficult day for Palace was worsened by Kamada's dismissal. Three of the Eagles' last six Premier League red cards have come against the Cottagers, against no other side have they seen more.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
