The 50th club hat trick of Cristiano Ronaldo, which included a fantastic late free kick, gave Manchester United a 3-2 victory over Norwich City at Old Trafford on Saturday, keeping their top-four chances alive just about.

United fans staged a protest against the club’s ownership outside the club’s Carrington training base on Friday, while thousands more supporters marched outside the ground before the match against Norwich on Saturday.

United, who had won just one of their previous seven games entering into this match, appeared prepared to run away with it as they went 2-0 up inside the first 32 minutes with the protest still going on.

Ronaldo’s first goal came after only seven minutes, when Anthony Elanga caught Norwich defender Ben Gibson offside on the edge of the box, teeing up the Portugal star, who converted from close range.

Just after the half-hour mark, United’s No. 7 scored his second goal, heading past Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul from a corner.

Teemu Pukki found out an unmarked Kieran Dowell to head home from just within the six-yard box in first-half stoppage time, and Norwich equalised.

On 52 minutes, the Premier League’s lowest side were level when Dowell set up Pukki, who evaded the offside trap and kept his calm to score off the inside of the post.

Cristiano Ronaldo was United’s hero once more on 76 minutes, as he clinched the victory with a brilliant free kick to complete his second treble of the season.

United goalkeeper David de Gea said after the game that Ronaldo’s treble indicated his team could still contend for a top-four finish, but he urged his team to contribute more.

The Spain international remarked, “Cristiano Ronaldo has scored three very important goals for us,” “We know we aren’t playing very well but we got three points.”

“We should control the game more against Norwich at home. A massive win for us. We still have a chance to finish top four and we have to fight for it.

“We will fight for the top four until the last second.”

Regarding the fans protests, a United spokesperson said: “We are working hard to create the conditions for renewed success on the pitch, while strengthening our engagement with fans.

“We respect the right of fans to voice their opinions peacefully and we will continue to listen to them, with the aim of working together to get the club back to where we all want it to be: competing for trophies.”

United are only three points behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth place in the Champions League qualifying race, but United coach Ralf Rangnick isn’t optimistic about completing the task, especially with title-chasing Liverpool coming up next on Tuesday.

“Everybody has seen today’s game, we all know what team we’re playing on Tuesday,” Rangnick added. “They might have the chance to win four trophies. If we play like we did today it will be very difficult to get even a point out of this game.

“Our defensive shape was the biggest issue for me today although I wouldn’t say shape because I don’t think it had anything to do with shape. I’m not really happy with our performance when we weren’t in possession of the ball.

“I know there are no easy games in this league but we have to defend better than we did today no matter what the opposition. Even more so if we think about the upcoming next games.”

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