Portugal vs Spain: Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick cancels out Diego Costa double and Nacho screamer
Iran top Group B after the heavyweights share the spoils
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Your support makes all the difference.Sochi bore witness to a World Cup classic on Friday as Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning hat-trick denied Spain victory in a clash of Group B heavyweights.
Ronaldo twice gave Portugal the lead, only for Diego Costa to bring Spain level before defender Nacho scored a screamer to put them in front. There was one last twist, though, as the Real Madrid superstar found the top corner with a late free-kick to ensure a share of the spoils.
Here are five things we learned from the match:
Real Madrid are determined to ruin Spain's World Cup
Oh, to be within earshot of Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales when, in the fourth minute at Fisht Stadium, Cristiano Ronaldo fell over Nacho’s outstretched leg in the Spain penalty area and referee Gianluca Rocchi pointed immediately to the spot.
Rubiales, in Sochi for the game, had presumably spent much of the previous 48 hours digesting the fallout from his sensational decision to sack Madrid-bound Julen Lopetegui on the eve of the World Cup – not least Florentino Perez’s spectacularly obnoxious counter-assertion that the federation had shown his club a lack of respect for daring to be angry at the situation.
His mood can hardly have been improved by the sight of Madrid’s superstar scorer winning and converting a penalty conceded by a Madrid defender to give Portugal the lead, before netting a hat-trick to deny Spain victory.
It’s only a matter of time before Sergio Ramos ‘accidentally’ falls on Diego Costa’s arm in training. There can be no doubt now: Spain are doomed, and Madrid are the reason why.
Spain might need a coach after all
It wasn’t the silly penalty Nacho gave away, or De Gea’s hands turning to butter as he tried to palm away a relatively tame Ronaldo shot. It was Spain’s uncharacteristically scatty performance and sense of panic under pressure that suggested this vastly experienced group of players might not, in fact, be able to win this World Cup without the coach that had overseen their revival since 2016.
Nacho ahead of Alvaro Odriozola at right-back was a questionable call by Fernando Hierro, even if the selection of Diego Costa was emphatically vindicated. Spain will need more than half of their new coach’s decisions to break right if they want to lift the World Cup again, especially since sterner tests than Portugal lie between them and their goal.
Ronaldo’s greatest gift might be his longevity
Just four minutes were required for Ronaldo to join Pele, Miroslav Klose and Uwe Seeler in the exclusive club of players to have scored at four different World Cups. Did anyone doubt that his penalty was going in as he puffed out his chest and prepared to take it? Or that his late free-kick would find the top corner for his 51st career hat-trick?
Ronaldo is 33. He was supposed to have slipped from the Ballon d’Or pedestal by now. Instead he’s refined and refocused his game to become football’s ultimate big-match scorer. And every time he finds the net in a match like this one, he adds another layer of gloss to an incredible legacy.
Costa’s anarchy is exactly what Spain need
So it turns out that Costa can be good at a World Cup when he has two working hamstrings. This performance was the perfect riposte to those who mocked his listless displays in Brazil four years ago, as well as those who doubted that he could be an asset to a squad heaving with talent.
Costa doesn’t fit Spain’s style at all, and that’s exactly what makes him so valuable to them. His relentless physicality occupies entire defences to free up space for the creators behind him and, when their intricate passing goes nowhere, he can still bundle through on his own. Both of his goals epitomised what he does best and what his international teammates do not.
Portugal are more than mere spoilers
Everyone who watched Fernando Santos’ team bore their way to the Euro 2016 title expected Portugal to approach this World Cup in exactly the same way. Perhaps sensing weakness in Spain they went totally against type in Sochi, and it was glorious.
A sustained spell of pressure yielded Ronaldo’s early penalty and even once defending a lead, Portugal counter-attacked with genuine purpose and numbers. Their strategy gave Spain fits and, just as importantly, maximised the talents of their best player.
In the end basic defensive errors proved their undoing, losing Costa for Spain’s equaliser and allowing the ball to bounce across their penalty area unchecked for Nacho’s screamer. They will win more games than they lose playing this way, though, and the ride will be much more fun.
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