World Cup 2018: ​Why Ronaldo has firmly cemented himself in world football history

COMMENT: When Cristiano Ronaldo hit his perfect free-kick beyond the watchful and helpless David De Gea, it summed up what the Portuguese captain was all about: precision, class and a global match star. He is there in the biggest moments, and more often than not he delivers in crucial games when it matters.

The hat-trick on Friday night proved exactly why he is rated as one of the greatest of all time. Yes there are the stats to prove it, but the Real Madrid man now has full justification to why people rate him up there in the top 5, perhaps 3 in world football history.