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Christano Ronaldo came out on top scoring a hat trick in the process

STOCKHOLM. — Sometimes words cannot do a deed justice but on Tuesday night in Stockholm Sweden soccer coach Erik Hamren filled the vacuum with a simple gesture.  On seeing Cristiano Ronaldo tear out his heart with his hat-trick goal, Hamren turned away, puffed out his cheeks and slowly shook his head.

His team had been felled by brilliance and he knew it. At times there is very little a coach or his players can do.
Sweden, let us remember, had moments earlier threatened to achieve something quite special themselves. Trailing by one on the night — and two on aggregate — after Ronaldo’s 50th minute goal, Hamren’s team somehow roused themselves to score twice through Zlatan Ibrahimovic to bring this occasion to a most unlikely boiling point.

With the Friends Arena in a frenzy, Portuguese minds began to frazzle. Could they really throw a place in Brazil away?

For a moment it looked like they could as Sweden, fuelled by adrenaline, swarmed forwards. Having scored twice in four minutes, they needed just one more.

Great players, though, don’t feel panic, they only see further opportunity to exhibit their genius.

And so it was here as Ronaldo broke away twice to complete a hat-trick that — simply because of the circumstances — deserves to stand alongside anything he has done previously in his gilded career.

Ibrahimovic will reflect on his own stoic contribution and perhaps wonder what his international career may have brought him had he played with better players. The Swede, though, simply cannot drive a game like Ronaldo can. After the match, however, via his official app, the striker wrote: “One thing is for sure; a WC without me is not worth watching — so it’s not worth waiting for it.”

Ronaldo remains in a different league to his rival. Next summer he will be on a different continent and afterwards his words failed marvellously to sum up his achievement.

“You never know who’s going to win and that’s why football is brilliant,” he said.

“Simply, I did my work.”

Whether his modesty is false or genuine doesn’t really matter. Having scored his team’s goal in the first leg last Friday, his hat-trick on Tuesday night stands as his fifth of the season so far and it is only November. Portugal created 10 meaningful chances on Tuesday night and he was involved in nine of them. We could go on but, ultimately, all that matters is the best player in the world on current form will be in Brazil next summer. On the face of it, this Portugal team shouldn’t make much of an impression. But if their captain brings this form to the table then, frankly, anything could happen.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo is the new favourite for the Fifa Ballon d’Or after his hat-trick fired Portugal to the World Cup soccer finals.

Having destroyed Sweden in Solna to guide his side to Brazil, the extension to the Ballon d’Or vote to November 29 plays to the advantage of the Real Madrid star who has scored 32 goals in 20 games this season, including five hat-tricks. During the calendar year, he has scored 66 goals in 55 games.

And following his display in the play-off second leg, punters instantly reacted with an avalanche of bets on Ronaldo to win the award, prompting his odds with Sky Bet to plummet from 6/4 to 4/9, replacing Franck Ribery at the head of the market.

The surge in interest has left Ronaldo with more than double the stakes of his main rival for the accolade, while Lionel Messi’s odds have drifted out to 8/1. Before nominations close, Ronaldo may well improve his statistics further, but what he will be unable to do is deliver a trophy and that is his Achilles heel when it comes to beating Messi and Champions League winner Ribery to the Ballon d’Or. AFP/SkySports.