Ronaldo rediscovers touch as Portugal spikes Holland
Cristiano Ronaldo’s smile and swagger were back, and so was his scoring touch.
The Real Madrid forward finally found the form he was lacking at the European Championship, scoring twice in a sparkling performance Sunday to give Portugal a 2-1 win over the Netherlands and a spot in the quarter-finals.
Poised to be written off as one of the tournament’s flops, Ronaldo put a miserable two-game goalless run at Euro 2012 behind him.
“Now everything is possible,” said Ronaldo, going a long way toward silencing the critics who accused him of failing to reproduce the form he showed in a sensational 60-goal club season.
Ronaldo failed to shine in Portugal’s 1-0 loss to Germany and 3-2 win over Denmark, but he was devastating against the Dutch. He produced an equalizer with his first goal of the tournament in the 28th minute and scored the winner in the 74th. He had a half-dozen other attempts at goal, including a low drive that clipped the post in the 16th, and he set up two clear chances for teammates.
“Ronaldo got so much criticism in the last game and he is back now,” Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk said. “That is how fast things can change.”
On Sunday, Ronaldo upstaged Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Arsenal’s Robin van Persie, the leading scorers in the Bundesliga and Premier League. Neither was able to find the net at the Metalist Stadium, although midfielder Rafael van der Vaart gave the Dutch an early lead.
After that, Ronaldo stole the show.
As Portugal cranked up the pressure, Ronaldo probed the Dutch back line and tied it off of Joao Pereira’s pass. For his second, Ronaldo received a pass from former Manchester United teammate Nani, coolly wrong-footed his marker and tapped the ball past the goalkeeper.