Ruthless Ronaldo hits four, France and Dutch run riot
PARIS: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in the opening four minutes on the way to a four-goal haul as European champions Portugal smashed Andorra 6-0 in World Cup qualifying on Friday, while France recovered from a goal down to thrash Bulgaria.
The Real Madrid superstar was making his first appearance for Portugal since he was stretchered off injured and in tears from the final of Euro 2016 and he wasted no time in making up for his threemonth absence from international football.
The 31-year-old took just 73 seconds to make his mark. He was wrestled to the floor at a corner but then jumped up to volley in left footed from around the penalty spot after the Andorra goalkeeper could only parry a Portugal header.
Ronaldo, who has struggled to get back to his brilliant best for Real since returning from his knee trouble, was at it again two minutes later when he was left totally unmarked on the six-yard box to rise and head in.
It was only a matter of how many for the home side after that, as Portugal belatedly got three points on the board in Group B, after losing in Switzerland in the opening group matches. Ronaldo made it the perfect hat-trick just 90 seconds after the break, grabbing his third -- Portugal’s fourth -- with a sweet right-footed volley.
Andorra’s nightmare evening got that bit worse just after the hour when they went down to 10 men, Jordi Rubio receiving a second yellow card for clattering late and hard into Ronaldo, who punished the away side soon after with another fine half-volley for 5-0.