Cristiano Ronaldo's hat trick powers Portugal into UEFA Nations League final

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Cristiano Ronaldo holding a red ball: Cristiano Ronaldo scored three times in his Nations League debut to lift Portugal. (Getty)
Cristiano Ronaldo is Portugal’s joint-leading scorer in the UEFA Nations League this season. And he just got done playing his first game in the competition.

Ronaldo’s hat trick lifted Portugal past Switzerland in the Nations League semifinals and into Sunday’s final, where they will face either England or the Netherlands.

The Nations League is a new tournament in Europe designed to replace meaningless friendlies with matches with genuine stakes, in this case rewarding successful teams with various legs up in Euro 2020 qualifying.

Portugal won its group last fall, winning two matches and drawing two others. Andre Silva scored three times over those four games to carry the offense.

Ronaldo chose to sit those out. He sat Switzerland down on Wednesday.

The first goal was a trademark Ronaldo free kick aided by some questionable positioning from Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer, in terms of both himself and his wall:

After Switzerland drew level through a 57th-minute Ricardo Rodriguez penalty, Bernardo Silva played a ball in that Ronaldo drove past Sommer with a clinical finish:

Shortly after, Ronaldo sealed the victory by cutting inside and finishing far post:
For their part, the Swiss gave a decent account of themselves, playing physically and controlling possession despite missing the final product. They stunned many by winning their group last fall by virtue of a 5-2 hammering of the Belgians in November.

But they’re going home now. Cristiano Ronaldo will do that to teams.

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