Unstoppable Ronaldo carries Portugal to World Cup

Portugal's forward Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the second goal for Portugal during the FIFA 2014 World Cup
playoff football match against Sweden. (AFP PHOTO/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND)

SOLNA: Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brilliant hat-trick as Portugal survived a second-half scare to qualify for their fourth straight World Cup final with a 3-2 play-off second leg win against Sweden on Tuesday to qualify 4-2 on aggregate.

The Real Madrid superstar scored all four on his side's goals including the first-leg winner as he overcame an equally brilliant display from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a classic encounter at Solna.

Ibrahimovic scored both goals for Sweden in vain as the match featured five goals in 29 minutes of second-half madness.

Ronaldo also equals Portugal's all-time leading score in taking his tally to 47, level with retired forward Pedro Pauleta.

With Portugal leading 1-0 after the first-leg and the match scoreless at half-time, Ronaldo turned the game on its head five minutes after the restart when he latched onto a glorious through ball from Joao Moutinho and guided a left-foot shot past the despairing Andreas Isaksson.

The counter-attack that begun inside the Portuguese penalty area, took just two touches to send the former Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United striker free on a break that went the length of the pitch. 

Sweden were left facing the daunting prospect of scoring three times in 40 minutes and roused the crowd into a frenzy when Ibrahimovic headed home Kim Kallstrom's corner with 22 minutes remaining.

The packed crowd at the Friends Arena were given further hope four minutes later when English referee Howard Webb correctly awarded a free-kick to Sweden just outside the area which Ibrahimovic drilled low past Rui Patricio.

With a wave of yellow shirts bombarding the Portuguese defence, Ronaldo again came to the rescue with two goals in two minutes, both of them clinical finishes after breaking behind the defence.

Hugo Almeida set up Portugal's third goal which took the sting out of the crowd before another perfect pass from Moutinho enabled Ronaldo to round Isaksson before smashing the ball in off the underside of the bar.

Portugal had the better of the first-half chances with Ronaldo twice blasting over from inside the box and Bruno Alves seeing his glancing header desperately pushed away by Isaksson.

However, Sweden kept at the task in hand with Ibrahimovic turning a close-range shot over the bar and Kallstrom's rasping long-range shot well collected by Rui Patricio.

The stage was then set for a second-half of thrilling action and Ronaldo's battle with Ibrahimovic which was finally won by the Portuguese.