Cristiano Ronaldo gave an emphatic reminder of his value to Portugal as he fired them to a 4-0 victory over Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League.
The Portugal captain was relieved on the bench during his opener against Spain on Thursday, forcing him to make it half an hour in a 1-1 draw.
But the Manchester United superstar sent a strong message of his importance to coach Fernando Santos when he returned to the starting line-up, scoring two goals after opening the stadium at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
For Switzerland’s Murat Yakin, the Nations League’s second defeat in most games leaves them facing a tough challenge left, after losing to the Czech Republic last week.
It would have been quite different though, after a good start in Lisbon it looks like there was a bad start for the athletes when Haris Seferovic came in from near the box full of people.
Portugal were released, however, when the VAR intervened to find out that Fabian Schar had committed a violation of handball while preparing in the corner of Xherdan Shaqiri.
After that early shock, the Santos team wanted to force themselves and was awarded a quarter of an hour when William Carvalho hit a double kick after Ronaldo’s free-kick was sent off.
From there, Ronaldo expressed his desire to score in quick succession, starting by doubling his team’s goal by scoring Diogo Jota’s ball in the 35th minute, before adding a second to him four minutes later with a touchdown.
The captain almost hit a high note before the break, trying to pass all the goals, and although the goals dried up after a while, he was still a strong player in Portugal’s participation.
With a three-goal cushion on the most remote bridge in Switzerland, the visitors seemed exhausted. When Joao Cancelo hit in the 68th minute, any small opposition shown by the Swiss disappeared as the athletes headed for a stunning victory.
