Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal gave football lovers all over the world a moment to treasure as he scored a hat-trick for Portugal and denied Fernando Hierro’s Spain victory with a stunning late free-kick in their World Cup Group B opener.
Two days after Julen Lopetegui was fired as Spain boss for agreeing to a post-tournament move to Real Madrid, more pain lay in wait for the Spaniards as Ronaldo swerved a vicious shot into David de Gea’s corner to avert defeat in a spellbinding, topsy-turvy match.
The former Manchester United star had earlier opened scoring, a penalty in the fourth minute after Nacho felled him in the box, before Diego Costa’s bullying low finish dragged Spain back into the match.
But just before the break, De Gea made a terrible and uncharacteristic error, fumbling a zipping Ronaldo shot through his gloves and over the line. Another dose of adversity for Spain to deal with.
But Hierro’s men responded through Costa again, the Atletico Madrid striker smashing in from Sergio Busquets’ knockdown nine minutes after half-time, before Nacho redeemed himself with a stunning volley from the edge of the area that crashed in off both posts.
For his part, Ronaldo was largely anonymous in the second half, a spectator to Spain’s recovery, but he emerged from the shadows of this fascinating spectacle to define the game’s result and in doing so become just the fourth player to score at four World Cups