The Modern-Day Legend Makes a World Cup Classic

The World Cup may well be the grandest stage of them all (at least in footballing terms) but you don’t usually find yourself glued to the screen on only the second day of the tournament.

After Uruguay and Iran secured respectable victories earlier in the day, Spain and Portugal both now look like two of the best sides in the tournament after their Group B clash will likely be looked back on as one of the best games of the tournament.

After Julen Lopetegui’s sacking a mere 48 hours earlier, the media was always going to be looking at Spain’s performance with great interest and uncertainty. It almost seemed that the worst was about to unfold as Portugal dominated the Spaniards in the early stages, going 1-0 up after 3 minutes thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s well taken (albeit generously awarded) penalty.

After suffering that initial shock, Spain managed to bring themselves back to their best, much to the delight of their quickfire replacement coach Fernando Hierro. The virtually impenetrable confidence of the Spain side of 2010 seemed to return as they tore the Portuguese defence apart throughout the game. Both sides looked dangerous when they made it into the final third, but Spain still took the lion’s share of possession.

But whilst the overall quality of the football was excellent, the star men for both sides were the ones who don’t have much more opportunities to shine.

For Spain, it was Andres Iniesta. Danny Murphy, during his commentary on BBC Sport, said that Andres Iniesta looked like exactly the same player he was eight years ago. I couldn’t agree more; he was as quick, athletic and intelligent as he has always been, even after the 34-year-old recently left his boyhood club to spend the twilight years of his career abroad in Japan. They are in for a real treat in the J-League next season and we as European football fans should drink in this man’s class whilst we still have the chance.

For Portugal, it was by far the man-of-the-match Cristiano Ronaldo. After plucking away a textbook penalty, he grabbed his second through an uncharacteristic error from Spain’s David De Gea, as the Manchester United goalkeeper fumbled a low shot into the bottom corner. But the real moment of Ronaldo’s quality was with his hattrick goal.

After Nacho Fernandez put Spain 3-2 up with a blistering half-volley, Ronaldo was presented with a free-kick opportunity 25 yards out and only 2 minutes of regular time still to play. Having already put a free-kick into the wall earlier, you would have been forgiven for thinking that the nerves would’ve started to creep up on him. But the goal he then scored are the exact reasons why this man is going to go down in history on the same level as Pele.

Not only was that goal the 51^st hattrick in the history of the World Cup, it was the 51^st hattrick of Ronaldo’s career. There’s a beautiful synchronicity about that goal that could give Portugal the lift they need to go very far in this tournament. Winning the World Cup is what turns great players into legends, and that is certainly a title befitting of on of the most finely tuned athletic specimens the world has ever seen.

Across the board, this match had pretty much everything you could conceivably think of when it comes to entertaining football. In fact, you could probably write an instruction manual from it.

If you want to show someone the absolute pinnacle of both team and individual prowess on a football pitch, show them this match. They'll get the idea.