Magical Ronaldo lights up World Cup with hat-trick to deny Spain at climax of thrilling draw
Portuguese star twice puts Portugal in front with Diego Costa replying each time
In by far the best game of the tournament so far, Ronaldo twice put Portugal in front, Diego Costa replied each time, Nacho gave Spain the lead with a stunning volley and Ronaldo then had the last word with a superb free kick he won himself.
Ronaldo has a relatively poor free-kick record for Portugal and when he and Raphael Guerreiro both stepped up in the 88th minute, many of their fans might have hoped the left back would have been allowed to have a go instead of his skipper.
Instead, Ronaldo stood with his legs apart in familiar pose, rolled up his shorts and curled an exquisite effort around the Spain wall and into the net past the helpless David de Gea.
The 33-year-old, who took his tally to 84 goals in 151 games for the European champions, became the fourth player to score in four World Cups after Brazil great Pele and Germany’s Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose.
He also became the first player to score in eight major tournaments in succession after hitting the target in the last four European Championship tournaments.