Cristiano Ronaldo didn't exactly shock the world with his incredible performance against Spain on Friday night, everyone's seen him do that kind of thing before, but the performance did leave egg on the face of Graeme Souness.
In the build up to Portugal's game against Spain on Friday BBC built the match up as Spain vs Cristiano Ronaldo which was a little unfair on the 2016 Euro champions, especially having won that final with the Real Madrid star.
The five time Ballon d'Or winner failed to make any impact of note in the Champions League final, at least until after the full time whistle when he dropped the bombshell that he could leave Real this summer.
Advert
But to start his World Cup campaign he scored the 51st hat-trick of his career as he proved the BBC right with his virtual one man mission to grab a point against Iberian rivals Spain.
He finished off the game with a brilliant free kick late in the game to make it 3-3, scoring a set piece after over 40 attempts without one at international tournaments.
In doing so he definitely proved Graeme Souness wrong. Before the tournament the Scot was talking to Irish channel TV3 and said, "There's obvious signs in Ronaldo that the days of him being such a match-winner are fading away." Oops!
Ronaldo has changed his game a lot over the years and he may not be the kind of player who runs at every member of the opposition, slaloming his way to a goal but to suggest he's no longer a match winner is way off.
Advert
His treble on Friday night might not have won the game for his country but without him they wouldn't have come close to the point they earned.
Last season the five time Ballon d'Or winner scored 26 goals in 27 La Liga appearances despite having a poor start to the domestic season and scored 15 Champions League goals as Real won the title for the third year running.
After Friday Ronaldo looks more likely to go on to the Qatar World Cup in four years time than he is to slow down and retire.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, World Cup news, Portugal, World Cup, Spain, Graeme Souness, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
