View more comments. His effort was a low and hit with power, but it should have been a comfortable save for the Manchester United keeper. It appears to be a cramp issue for the Portugal captain. They showed resilience after a difficult week, battling back twice from behind before taking the lead.
Ronaldo keeps his composure against De Gea, lifting his effort into the net. However, the forward fails to make the most of the opening, driving a strike straight into the defender's legs. The group consisted of Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and Iran. IT'S BRILLIANT!!!! Spain are back on level terms for the second time in the match as Costa strikes from close range.
However, Spain are able to see off the threat.
The European champions will be desperate for the half-time whistle to arrive.
He cuts the ball back for David Silva to strike, but his effort is diverted behind for a corner. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a dramatic late free-kick to complete his first World Cup hat-trick and rescue a point for Portugal after a thrilling 3-3 draw against Spain in Sochi. What a half of football. Momentum has completely shifted towards La Roja in the second half.
The top two teams, Spain and Portugal, advanced to the round of 16.
Guedes battles on the edge of the box and feeds Ronaldo to shoot and score. Costa was the first man react to turn it home into the net. Spain were in control of the match when Ronaldo notched his second goal. The forward does it all himself as he fends off a challenge from Pepe before seeing off Fonte with ease. Busquets catches Guedes late with a boot on the edge of the box. Iniesta does not quite have the legs that he used to. What we have instead in Sochi is a match between neighbours who between them have been European champions for the past 10 years and yet, given their records as serial qualifiers for these tournaments, have met only once before in the World Cup finals, eight years ago in Cape Town when David Villa’s ‘offside’ goal was allowed to stand in the Round of 16 and Spain went on to become world champions.Only those who have been living under rocks will have missed that Spain, having qualified at a stroll with nine wins and a solitary draw, have had their preparations thoroughly janked by kind old Florentino Pérez, equitable and benevolent president of Real Madrid, who has detonated their preparations by poaching Julen Lopetegui to be a cut-price manager of his club.
The players are out on the pitch. But he is clever enough not to inhibit them with any late tactical changes and, as a speaker, he is far more inspirational than his here-today-gone-tomorrow predecessor,Spoiler alert - Portugal may try to suck the life out of the game and draw Spain towards sterility but don’t let that kill the keen anticipation. Bruno Fernandes attempts to put De Gea under pressure to start the half with a strike from distance, but his effort goes harmlessly past the post. Portugal need someone other than Ronaldo to come to the fore here. We almost got all three points, and then we got the draw.
1-0 PORTUGAL!!! Soccer; Comments User. SAVE! Andre Silva comes on for Guedes in attack. Spain are starting to build their confidence by finding a flow to their passing game. From the team that started that contest, Hierro makes three changes. Bruno Fernandes makes way for Portugal as Santos puts Joao Mario into the mix in need of a goal. BLOCK! FULL-TIME: PORTUGAL 3 SPAIN 3 Spain attempt to build down the left as Alba comes forward in support, but Portugal are able to see off the threat. The only other change from that game sees Fonte replace Bruno Alves in the heart of the defence. Bruno Fernandes has space to lift a cross into the box, but he fails to pick out Bernardo Silva or Guedes, much to the frustration of the two attackers. Ronaldo hitches up his shorts, composes himself and scores his late equaliserDiego Costa beasts then beats Portugal's defence to score his first David De Gea makes an unthinkable handling error and Portugal 2-1 upNacho puts Spain ahead for the first time to make it 2-3Cristiano Ronaldo has scored three goals in total at his three previous World CupsDavid De Gea warms up for his Spain against Portugal