No goal in his last two matches for club and country but Cristiano Ronaldo showed good signs ahead of Portugal vs Spain at the World Cup.
It’s been almost 15 years since his senior national team debut in a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan in August 2003. The skipper of the Seleccao received his 150th cap for his country on Thursday night in Lisbon.
The friendly match, which served as his one and only 2018 FIFA World Cup warm-up, was contested against Riyad Mahrez’s Algeria. Stomping his authority in both flanks, Ronaldo generously exhibited fancy footwork and speed to unsettle the Algerian’s defence in the first period of the game.
Portugal were 2-0 up at the break, thanks to Gonzalo Guedes’ opener and Bruno Fernandes’ pinpoint header. The latter was set up by his talismanic captain inside the 36th minute.
Not satisfied by his phenomenal assist, Cristiano doubled his efforts to fire the ball past the goal line. He played a more central role in attack and came close through a diving free-kick powerfully punched away by Algerian goalkeeper Salhi.
After that, the 33-year-old came knocking again but nervousness soon got the better of him. This was summed by an off-target overhead kick, shortly before he handed his armband to Pepe and came off the pitch in the 74th minute for Silva.
Ronaldo’s inability to find the net, however, cannot overshadow his excellent first-half display and early second-half contributions. Here’s a recap of the captain’s highlights through a series of tweets.
Ronaldo with an ambitious strike but he's visibly disappointed by the finish. A few mins earlier, he nutmegged two players. The crowd loved it! we did too! #PortugalAlgeria
— CRonaldoDaily.com (@BreatheRonaldo) June 7, 2018
Ronaldo races forward. Onside this time. Side-nets!
Goal kick given although the goalkeeper clearly got his palm on the ball. :-/ #PortugalAlgeria
— CRonaldoDaily.com (@BreatheRonaldo) June 7, 2018
GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAL. What a quality cross from Ronaldo. Absolutely brillant assist. Cross coming in from the left side. It's Portugal 2-0 Algeria.
Bruno Fernandes with his first international goal!
— CRonaldoDaily.com (@BreatheRonaldo) June 7, 2018
Ronaldo assist we eating good. That man is some underrated play maker nowadays
— 🇵🇹🇧🇷 (@IconicCristiano) June 7, 2018
Ronaldo free kick brings diving save from Salhi! Moments later Ronaldo almost through, crosses for a sliding Guedes who arrives just too late touch it into the net. Portugal 2-0 Algeria, 52'
— Tom Kundert (@PortuGoal1) June 7, 2018
Portugal starting to showboat – great cross on the run by Bruno Fernandes, Ronaldo tries for a spectacular scissor kick, but doesn't connect well.
— Tom Kundert (@PortuGoal1) June 7, 2018
Two Portugal subs: Ronaldo off, André Silva on, João Moutinho off, João Mário on.
— Tom Kundert (@PortuGoal1) June 7, 2018
I don’t think Ronaldo will get many goals in the World Cup tbh
— KING ERIC ♿️ (@KickAssCantona) June 7, 2018
Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't scored? He missed a scissor kick? No panic. Let's talk about his fantastic assist tonight. We have faith in CR7 at the FIFA World Cup. Let's have a Bernardo Silva-Cristiano Ronaldo-Gonzalo Guedes frontline! Time to #ConquistaOSonho !
— CRonaldoDaily.com (@BreatheRonaldo) June 7, 2018
The Seleccao will soon jet off to Russia where they’ll play their opening 2018 FIFA World Cup match against Spain at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. The tournament could see Cristiano Ronaldo score in a record eight consecutive major international tournaments.
Portugal’s 2018 World Cup fixtures
*All Portugal kick-off times are displayed in GMT (UTC+0)
