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The greatest players have the habit of appearing in the biggest games when their teams need them the most – and that's what Cristiano Ronaldo did again Wednesday night. Portugal suffered and blew, but failed to make its way to a brave and dangerous Swiss team. Take a step forward, Mr. Ronaldo.
For an amazing 53rd time in his professional career, Ronaldo scored a hat trick that was enough for him to face the winner on Sunday and the winner of England and the Netherlands, and that was also enough to silence the headlines of referee Felix Brych after a crazy a few minutes of VAR controversy.
Of course, it was Ronaldo who opened the scoring in the 25th minute with yet another moment of individual brilliance. In fact, it was Switzerland that started as the strongest team, but their inability to take advantage of a series of early pressures was punished, the 34-year-old slammed home a free kick credibly granted 25 meters. Yann Sommer had hurt his effort, but in reality he was so powerful that the goalkeeper flashed him even before he had time to react.
Switzerland responded well and, led by the enigmatic Xherdan Shaqiri, nearly recovered the same balance before halftime when Harris Seferovic hit the crossbar with an effort coming from just behind the penalty spot. However, they would have to wait ten minutes after the break to have another chance to equalize the restless minutes of the Estádio do Dragão.
Shaqiri was again involved while he was bending a perfect cross in an inch. Seferovic, who hit the turf after his entangled feet with Nelson Semedo while the Portuguese defender desperately tried to side with the goals of his man. Referee Felix Brych originally played the game, allowing Portugal to counter.
And against them they did: Cristiano Ronaldo dribbled the box on a mazy run before finding Bernardo Silva, who was then shot by Fabian Schär. Brych was this time without a doubt and pointed out the place – penalty in Portugal.
However, after long revision of the VAR in which the German official viewed images of the incident involving Seferovic and Semedo, the decision was annulled and a penalty was imposed on Switzerland – To the dismay of the partisan crowd and the desperate Fernando Santos in the Portuguese canoe.
Ricardo Rodriguez fined Rui Patricio in order to level the proceedings, but it was Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal who would have the last word.
Just as an open and fiery encounter seemed to drift into extra time, the Juventus decided that he had other ideas. Bernardo Silva received the ball in the right space after a change of game from Ruben Neves, and his shot allowed to find a Ronaldo hidden on the edge of the box, which pulled a mighty first effort that beat Sommer at the very first post to sending the crowd home in raptures.
Ronaldo had not finished, however, and secure the ball for the match opposed by Portugal, two minutes later, to a very open Swiss team. After receiving Gonçalo Guedes' ball on the left side of the surface, the five-time Golden Balloon launched two trademark before cutting inside and bending a precise finish in the far corner to secure the place of his nation in the final.
We seem to lack superlatives for his performances, but Ronaldo reinforced his legend with another iconic and heroic performance tonight in front of his future fans at home.
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