Cristiano Ronaldo

“Does Messi do that?” Alexi Lalas sneered while looking at the camera during Fox’s halftime coverage of Portugal vs. Morocco. The act in question was a three-yard diving header off a corner from Ronaldo to give Portugal an early lead. (He doesn't; he usely takes the corners or stands at the edge of the box because he's just pushing 5-7.) 

But does Messi do this?

Move over Ferenc Puskas, CR7 is No. 2 now. With the Cristiano Ronaldo goal vs Morocco, a powerful header off a corner kick four minutes into the match on Wednesday, the Portuguese star became the second all-time leading goal scorer in the history of men's international soccer. 

Ronaldo and Puskas were tied with 84 goals apiece after the former’s hat trick against Spain on Friday. But Ronaldo didn’t wait long on Wednesday against Morocco to break that tie.

Cristiano Ronaldo has finally arrived at a World Cup. Sure, he’s scored at the last three tournaments, but the goals came against inferior competition. The Ronaldo hat trick vs Spain was one of the Portugal striker’s greatest moments for his country, as the Iberian derby finished in a 3-3 draw on Friday in Russia. 

THE WORLD CUP IS BACK, PEOPLE!

The most anticipated matchup in the group stage didn’t waste any time getting the people going. It has lived up to the hype. We’ve gotten:

Vintage Cristiano step overs. Cristiano earning a PK with said stepovers. Two VAR instances. Diego Costa giving Pepe a forearm shiver. Diego Costa playing the Portuguese defense like a fiddle. An Isco shot off the bar that needed goal-line technology. And a shocking howler from David de Gea

At halftime, it was 2-1 Portugal. 

Let’s get to the Spain vs Portugal goals footage:

In terms of glamour, no group stage game comes close to matching Portugal vs Spain on June 15 at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. This is, after all, a meeting between the last three European Champions (Spain in ’08 and ’12, Portugal in ’16), and a clash between arguably the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo, and a who’s who of talent concentrated at the mega clubs of the world’s two best domestic leagues.

Well, it happened. Real Madrid secured a 13th Champions League title with the help of Gareth Bale’s insane skill, Benzema’s meh goal and Sergio Ramos’ ethically questionable defending.