Portugal were in dire straits against Hungary: Ronaldo

“Cristiano Ronaldo is the best in the world”, Portugal winger Ricardo Quaresma told Portuguese television channel CMTV.

Waving his arms in frustration and shouting frenziedly to all around him, Cristiano Ronaldo seethed as Hungarian rivals celebrated. Ronaldo then came through with his second.

Ronaldo set two UEFA Euro finals records Wednesday in Portugal’s thrilling 3-3 draw with Hungary in Group F. In doing so, Ronaldo also rescued his country from an early and embarrassing elimination from Euro 2016.

The Hungarians are still pinching themselves after already reaching the knockout round in their first major global tournament for three decades.

The 37-year-old midfielder became the second oldest player ever to score at a European Championship.

“It was an insane match”, said Ronaldo as Portugal equalised three times in sweltering conditions.

Following disappointing displays against Iceland and Austria, missing a penalty against the latter, Ronaldo twice pulled Portugal back from behind to earn a point in an enthralling 3-3 draw with Hungary that ensured progression to the last 16.

Hungary goalkeeper Gabr Kiraly from his former Manchester United team-mate Ronaldo’s clever through ball.

“We qualified in third”.

“The players have huge expectations, because we want to reach the final and win it”.

“This is a big surprise for everyone and I can’t compliment my team enough”. “It was unbelievable. When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition”.

But Hungary was keen to make their presence known, despite without qualifying for a major tournament for the last 30 years.

Republic of Ireland also scored their own memorable 1-0 win over Italy and Belgium beat Sweden by the same score, ending the global career of Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic in defeat.

Ireland 1, Italy 0 • Robbie Brady’s goal on a header in the 85th minute lifted the Irish squad, in Lille, into the knockout stages of the tourney.

But Iceland must be dealt with first, and England will resume training today after two days off where plans will begin to be formed.

“It’s a fairly lengthy evening”.

“We failed to do that”.

After disappointing displays against Iceland and Austria, there was no stopping Ronaldo, who was crowned man-of-the-match in Lyon.