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#3 Average: Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano is the epitome of self-belief, mentality and sheer ruthless sense in terms of coming out on top and making a way for himself in the crowd. He has defied odds all through his career in order to avoid the average stamp next to his name, but tonight, he was hardly anything except that.
Ronaldo dropped to the midway line at times to collect the ball and thrive in the half spaces around the attacking half in the initial period of the game. There were some good glimpses when he formed passing triangles due to his tendency to move back of the field.
His touches were deft and allowed Portugal to adopt a slick momentum in their counter-attacks. However, we did not see the same level of ruthlessness in front of the goal that we have seen in the past 12 days. Cristiano took a good shot from distance, but it did not ooze the required level of pace and trajectory to trouble the keeper.
Then, his missed penalty further messed up things as Portugal had the opportunity to double their lead and gain an untenable advantage over there.
Iran pegged a goal back later and Portugal had to be content with finishing second, something that they could have bettered by finishing first had Cristiano leathered the ball inside the net.
