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One of the best players to have played the modern game of football, Ronaldo is the top scorer of the Portuguese national football team with 88 goals to his name. Time after time, Ronaldo has proved his mettle by scoring some important goals for his team. He has scored in all of the major international competitions for his national team. At the age of 34, Ronaldo still is the main man for both his club and the national team.
Of the seven hat tricks that he has notched up for his country, we take a look at the three of the best and rank them accordingly.
#3 Hat-trick against Switzerland
Making his first appearance for Portugal in the UEFA Nations League semi-final, all eyes were on Ronaldo as he looked to help his team reach the finals against a quality Swiss team. The match started pretty slowly for him and his Portugal side with Switzerland enjoying most of the possession. But in the 24th minute, Ronaldo produced a magical moment and scored a stunning free-kick to send his team into the lead. Switzerland continued to create chances but failed to score and it remained 1-0 until half time.
Switzerland leveled the score early in the second half thanks to a penalty awarded by VAR. It looked like the game would go on to extra time as it remained 1-1 right till the very end, but Ronaldo had other plans.
In the 88th minute, he converted a well-measured ball from Bernardo Silva and scored. The tie then seemed to be over but Ronaldo, as he would go on to prove, wasn't done. In the 90th minute, Ronaldo made a devastating run from the left wing and scored another brilliant goal, bending the ball into the bottom left corner and completed his hat-trick to send Portugal to the maiden UEFA Nations League Final.
#2 Hat-trick Against Sweden
Billed as the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Zlatan Ibrahimovic match, this was a very important European Qualifiers Match as the qualification for both the countries in the FIFA World Cup 2014 depended on it. Portugal had already taken a 1-0 lead in the first match of the two-legged tie thanks to none other than Ronaldo himself. A response was expected from the Sweden team as they were now playing in front of their own crowd.
Sweden did start the match well but failed to create any real chance and the score remained 0-0 in the second half. Though Sweden were enjoying a large share of possession, it was Ronaldo and Portugal who struck first as he fired past Isaksson, after being played onside by Joao Moutinho. It was now looking like Portugal had done enough to qualify but then Sweden responded with the help of 2 quick Zlatan goals.
Portugal seemed a little bit rattled but then all hopes of a Sweden come back were ended when Ronaldo scored in the 77th minute. He wasn’t finished though as he went on to complete his hat-trick just 2 minutes after and helped Portugal to reach the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.
#1 Hat-trick against Spain
The much-awaited group stage match between Spain and Portugal in the 2018 Fifa World Finals in Russia didn’t fail to disappoint as it was full of goals from both sides. Cristiano Ronaldo was once again the star man in the match as his hat-trick helped Portugal secure a crucial point against 2010 champions Spain.
Ronaldo was playing in his fourth straight World Cup Finals and the Portuguese talisman had scored in the previous three. Surely he was looking to add to his tally and become the first Portuguese to score in four straight World Cups.
The match started with Portugal on the front foot and they were awarded an early penalty in the 4th minute after Ronaldo was tripped in the box by Nacho. As expected, the Portuguese star man opened the scoring. Spain responded in the 24th minute after a brilliant goal from Diego Costa.
In the 44th minute, Ronaldo doubled his tally after David de Gea fumbled a powerful shot and sent Portugal into the lead going into half time.
In the second half, Spain responded brilliantly, scoring two quick goals in quick succession, one through Costa and one through Nacho, who scored one of the goals of the tournament.
Portugal tried really hard thereafter to find an equalizer and then in the 88th minute, were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box. With the world watching, Ronaldo stepped up to take it and produced a curling strike over the wall, as a helpless De Gea watched the ball go right into the top corner. The match ended 3-3 with both teams sharing a point, but once again it was Ronaldo who grabbed the headlines thanks to a stellar har-trick.
