The full-time whistle sounded to end a breathless, bombastic second half at Sweden's Nationalerenan in Stockholm. Portugal had booked their place at the 2014 World Cup and Nuno Matos, the match commentator for Antena 1 radio had entirely lost the run of himself.
"Hat-trick for Cristiano Ronaldo!" he cried. "Hat-trick for the world's best! Hat-trick that takes Portugal to Brazil! Saaaaaamba!!!!! Ronaldo!!!!!! He's unique! He surpasses the limits of logic! It's glory, it's victory, it's a supreme moment!"
Sure, it was only a qualification playoff, made necessary because Portugal hadn't managed to win their group, but it is impossible to assess the record-breaking majestic of Ronaldo's international career without combing through what unfolded in the space of five late autumn days in 2013.
Still under Paulo Bento after their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2012, the Selecao had to settle for second spot behind Russia in Group F. The top two shared 1-0 home wins over one another, although a pair of draws with Israel and another at home to Northern Ireland hindered Portugal's hopes.
MORE: Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial | Part 6: The cup, he's going to bring it home...'
They were drawn to face Sweden in a two-legged, winner-takes-all encounter, a tie that was instantly billed as a showdown between the superstar qualities of Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ronaldo was on his way to back-to-back Ballon d'Or titles after ending Messi's hegemony in 2013. It meant the argument over who was the greatest had some more perpetual fuel and Ibrahimovic placed some of his own inimitable emphasis at the centre of the debate.
At a time of near-universal celebration of Messi and, by extension, the Barcelona model, Zlatan was a loud dissenting voice. He joined Barca from Inter Milan in 2009, bolstering a formidable side that had won a Champions League, LaLiga and Copa del Rey treble under Pep Guardiola the previous season.
Although he produced a solid goalscoring return, Ibrahimovic's relationship with Guardiola grew cold and the player tired of what he perceived to be a subservient dressing room attitude that served the coach and star man Messi.
"It started well but then Messi started to talk. He wanted to play in the middle, not on the wing, so the system changed from 4–3–3 to 4–5–1," he claimed in his autobiography I Am Zlatan. "I was sacrificed and no longer had the freedom on the pitch I need to succeed."
Ibrahimovic's career did not particularly suffer as he moved first to AC Milan and then to Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, continuing to collect titles and generally tell everyone how fantastic he was. He stood as the antithesis of Barca's Cruyffian collectivism that had served to elevate Messi. By extension, as the world’s two leading players came to appear increasingly polarised, Ibrahimovic was lumped onto the Ronaldo side of the argument.
MORE: MESSI & RONALDO: DESTINATION MUNDIAL | HOME
The two looked like kindred footballing spirits. If Messi's greatness sometimes felt bequeathed by some sort of otherworldly magic, Zlatan and Cristiano powered to the summit gym session by gym session, shooting drill after shooting drill. Their excellence came in the form of brute and precision-engineered physicality, allayed with sublime technical qualities and encased in a mentality that skirted the boundaries of undiluted self-belief and arrogance.
Admittedly, a lot of Ronaldo's presumed self-regard was projected by the masses. Ibrahimovic simply went around calling himself a "lion" all the time. Either way, it was a blockbuster of Hollywood proportions that was not to be missed — irrespective of the meagre qualities of their supporting casts, whose lower statuses made the mano a mano matchup all the more intriguing.
The first leg at Lisbon's Estadio da Luz was a tense affair. Portugal made most of the running, although they had to wait until the 82nd minute to find the breakthrough when Ronaldo bravely flung himself into a diving header on the end of Miguel Veloso's left-wing cross.
The two sides continued to joust and probe during the first half of the return game in Stockholm, with Ronaldo clipping a half-chance over and Ibrahimovic blasting a volley off target. After the interval, all hell broke loose.
On this day in 2013, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored two goals for Sweden against Portugal...
— GOAL (@goal) November 19, 2020
But Cristiano Ronaldo scored THREE to send his country to the World Cup 😎pic.twitter.com/gEkPnMgdUs
Joao Moutinho found a perfect through ball in the 50th minute. Ronaldo darted onto from the right flank, angling his run across the field and clipping a cool left-footed finish over Andreas Isaksson in the Sweden goal.
Your move, Zlatan. The Sweden striker rose midway through the second period to head home a corner, making the most of some static Portugal marking. In the 72nd minute, Ibrahimovic thundered home a low free-kick from the edge of the penalty area to give the hosts the lead on the night and bring them level on aggregate.
The momentum of the occasion and a boisterous crowd were against the Selecao. However, as Sweden poured forward in the 77th minute, substitute Hugo Almeida lofted a pass into the left channel for Ronaldo. Again his balance, poise and athleticism made a half-chance feel like a formality and he buried another strike with his weaker foot.
Two minutes later, it was all over. Again the Sweden backline were beguiled by Ronaldo's movement, he drew Isaksson and smashed into the roof of the net, completing his hat-trick and leaving Nuno Matos and Portugal fans everywhere to scream themselves hoarse.
In hindsight, a prime Ronaldo enjoying such a banner night in Portugal colours was something to savour. For Bento's team, this was as good as their 2014 World Cup campaign got.
MORE: Cristiano Ronaldo goal scoring record: List of all-time top scorers though totals are up for debate
Far from samba-ing his way into Brazil, Ronaldo arrived with tendinitis in his left knee, an ailment he had managed while helping Real Madrid to Champions League glory with a 4-1 final win over rivals Atletico Madrid immediately prior to the tournament.
"If I'd rested my body, I would have recovered," he said reflecting upon those frantic weeks in the middle of 2014. "I didn't want to miss the Champions League final or the World Cup. Sometimes a sportsman has to take his body to the limit, you have to take risks. I forced myself to play. For my club side things went well, for Portugal not so well."
They began in chaotic fashion, thrashed 4-0 by eventual winners Germany as Thomas Muller plundered a hat-trick and Pepe was sent off. That goal difference hit would prove decisive as Portugal scrambled to a 2-2 draw against the United States and beat Ghana 2-1 thanks to a Ronaldo goal 10 minutes from time. It could not save the Selecao from group-stage elimination.
Still, any of the disquiet that surrounded his penalty faux pas at Euro 2012 had dissipated. With increasing regularity, most notably in the battle with Sweden, Portugal had benefitted from Ronaldo at his Real Madrid best and then some. Their pursuit of elusive glory would stand and fall with him, remaining tied to their star forward for however long he decided to remain on the international stage.
Credits and acknowledgements
The Sporting News was fortunate enough to speak to a number of experts on Portuguese and Argentine football to enhance the Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial series. We would like to thank the following people for their time and input – please do check out their superb work.
Santi Bauza: Argentinian football journalist and content creator, whose credits include Copa 90, CNN and Hand of Pod.
Dan Edwards: Freelance football journalist based in Argentina, formerly the long-time South America correspondent for Goal.com.
Peter Coates: Editor of Golazo Argentino.
Simon Curtis: Portuguese football expert and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter.
Aaron Barton: Creator of English-language Portuguese football destination Proxima Journada.
Tom Kundert: Creator of PortuGOAL and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter
Joshua Robinson & Jonathan Clegg: Wall Street Journal sports reporters and authors of Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two GOATs, and the Era That Remade the World's Game
READ: PART 8| 'IT HURTS NOT TO BE CHAMPION' (Published Friday, November 18 17:00 GMT/ 12:00 ET)
