Portugal 3-3 Spain
A clash between Iberia’s finest – now the World Cup 2018 has well and truly started.
In fact, my SBOBET prediction is there won’t be a better group game in the tournament.
This was a terrific game of football between the reigning European champions and the 2010 world champions which will live long in the memory.
As World Cup 2018 highlights on a balmy night in Sochi go, where do you begin?
Highlights of the game
Let’s start with the best player in the world.
I said pre-tournament that Spain would win the tournament if they had Cristiano Ronaldo, and this match just strengthened my belief.
For this awesome professional now has 46 goals in his past 44 games.
He used a superb piece of skill to win a penalty against his Real Madrid team-mate Nacho within three minutes. No 7 dusted himself up and coolly converted the spot-kick despite a little bit of gamesmanship from goalkeeper David De Gea.
His celebration, pointing to his chin presumably to intimate he takes any flak on the chin, was a perfect riposte to the Spanish authorities on the day they announced he had been convicted for defrauding tax authorities.
The timing of the announcement, just hours before this contest, was unnecessary and, if a crass attempt to unsettle their rival, it spectacularly backfired.
With Ronaldo superb, he was again the main man spearheading a number of counter-attacks. From one such break, Goncalo Guedes took too long when he should have made it 2-0.
Ronaldo had a decent supporting cast but nothing like that belonging to Spain and, to prove the point, moments after Guedes failed to be clinical, Spain were level by taking a much harder opportunity.
Although poor initial defending, and embarrassing play by Pepe, there was no questioning the skill and finish from Diego Costa after an excellent ball from Sergio Busquets.
Within minutes we were denied, even at this stage, what would have been one of the great goals of the competition when a bullet of a shot from Isco hit the crossbar, bounced down on the line and away.
Spain were on top but Portugal went into the break in front after a first-time powerful shot from you-know-who led to an uncharacteristic fumble by De Gea.
The compelling thriller continued after the break when a David Silva free-kick perfectly reached and was headed across by Busquets for Costa to poach his second.
Moments later, Nacho made amends for conceding the early penalty with a brilliant strike.
It was a stylish finish that was, to quote football parlance, as sweet as a nut.
What a time to score your first goal for your country.
But the final word was to be with Ronaldo.
There on occasions when you run out of superlatives.
For Spain, it felt like a defeat. For Portugal, a victory.
Has the world ever witnessed a better player?
And if you didn’t think he was in a league of his own, read this.
This was the night Ronaldo lit up the world – again!
Key statistics
Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player to have scored in eight major international tournaments.
This was his 51st career hat-trick.
Portugal scored with their only three shots on target.
What’s next?
In the week in which Spain’s managerial saga has taken centre stage, this was actually a good result for both sides.
With Iran and Morocco also making up Group B, both nations will be quietly confident of progressing.
After such a topsy-turvy encounter, their next matches should be more straightforward.
Portugal meet the Africans at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on June 20 before Spain take on Iran hours later at the Kazan Arena.
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