Portugal 5-0 Uzbekistan: Ronaldo makes history in emphatic Portugal victory

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score at six World Cup finals as Portugal thrashed Uzbekistan 5-0 to secure their place in the round of 32.

Ronaldo opened the scoring – to mark the sixth straight tournament since 2006 in which he has scored – before notching a second after a wonderous free kick from Paris Saint-Germain defender Nuno Mendes.

Rafael Leão‘s strike from off the bench along with an own goal from Abduvokhid Khusanov sealed the win and saw Portugal claim top spot in Group K and send the debutants home with one group game to spare.

Portugal started brightly, dominating possession in the opening stages and creating an early opportunity through Bruno Fernandes, whose effort was well blocked.

Cristiano Ronaldo fired Portugal into an early lead after seven minutes, becoming the first player in footballing history to score on the world stage a phenomenal six times.

Shortly afterwards, Uzbekistan’s Khamrobekov was shown a yellow card for a reckless challenge on João Cancelo just outside the penalty area.

Nuno Mendes made the visitors pay, curling the resulting free kick into the net to double Portugal’s advantage after 18 minutes.

Uzbekistan thought they had reduced the deficit when Azizjon Ganiev found the net with a superb long-range strike, but the goal was ruled out following a foul on Cancelo in the build-up.

Portugal continued to dictate the match and added a third goal before the break, with Ronaldo finishing clinically from a brilliant Fernandes assist to cap off a dominant first-half performance.

Portugal picked up where they left off after the break, dominating possession and controlling the tempo of the match.

It did not take long for them to add a fourth goal, as João Félix got a touch from a corner before the ball deflected off Abdulkodir Khusanov and into the net for an own goal.

Ronaldo came close to completing his hat-trick twice in the space of a minute, with his first effort drifting narrowly wide before Nematov produced a fine save to deny him moments later.

Fernandes nearly added a fifth goal for Portugal, but Nematov reacted well to deny the midfielder with a smart save

Nélson Semedo surged down the right flank and delivered a dangerous cross into the penalty area intended for Cristiano Ronaldo.

The ball fell kindly to Leão, who fired a superb effort into the top-left corner just four minutes after coming off the bench to make it 5-0 and round off a brilliant performance in response to a frustrating draw with DR Congo last time out.

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