Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning 60mph free-kick leaves David De Gea stranded as he completes World Cup hat-trick
Portugal superstar was the hero of the night with his treble — but it is his sensational third which has left everyone talking
CRISTIANO RONALDO stole the show as Portugal and Spain played out a World Cup classic in Sochi.
The Real Madrid superstar scored a hat-trick in the 3-3 draw — but it is his third which will live long in the memory.
With the Spaniards leading, Gerard Pique clipped Ronaldo's ankles to give away a needless free-kick in prime shooting position.
And now the stage was set: 24.31 yards from goal.
With exactly 87 minutes and two seconds on the clock, Ronaldo had the chance to score his — and the World Cup's — 51st hat-trick to level the match up.
He had the look of a man who knew exactly where the ball would end up.
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Ronaldo rolled up his shorts. All the way up. He took a deep breath and hit the ball at a whopping 60.5mph.
And just 0.82 seconds later, the ball had gone around the wall, past a stricken David De Gea and into the back of the net.
This was the ultimate one-man show. Ronaldo won the penalty he opened the scoring with by anticipating what Nacho would do, before slotting his spot-kick past De Gea.
Before tonight, he had never scored more than one goal in a World Cup finals, despite this being the fourth tournament he'd scored in.
