Cristiano Ronaldo's hat trick just enough for Portugal to defeat Armenia

Updated: May 17, 2023, 06:16 am

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his third successive hat trick for club and country as 10-man Portugal survived a big scare to beat Armenia 3-2 and remain clear at the top of their European Championship qualifying group.

Marcos Pizzelli's brilliant 30-yard free kick gave Armenia a surprise lead but Ronaldo equalised from the spot before half-time and the Real Madrid superstar then struck twice in three minutes before the hour to put Portugal in control in Yerevan.

That followed Ronaldo's hat tricks for Real in their final two Primera Division games against Espanyol and Getafe and increased his record-breaking tally of European Championship goals to 26.

However, Portugal were still made to sweat for the victory as they lost Tiago to a red card in the 62nd minute before seeing Armenia pull a goal back 11 minutes later through Hrayr Mkoyan.

Armenia pushed for what would have been a shock draw, but they could not find an equaliser as Portugal's 10 men held on for the victory that keeps them on course for the Euro 2016 finals.

Portugal started the weekend with a two-point lead over Denmark and Albania in Group I and firm favourites to make it four wins from five games against last-placed Armenia.

The 2004 runners-up were stunned in the 14th minute, though, when Pizzelli smashed a long-range free kick in off the underside of the crossbar with Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio, having perhaps anticipated a chip into the box rather than a shot, helpless.

Portugal needed all three of Cristiano Ronaldo's goals to beat pesky Armenia on Saturday.
REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili

Portugal were only behind for 15 minutes, however, with Ronaldo sending home keeper Roman Berezovsky the wrong way from the penalty spot after Henrikh Mkhitaryan had brought down Joao Moutinho inside the box.

The Portugal captain then scored twice in quick succession at the start of the second half to make it 3-1.

His second goal owed a great deal to some poor Armenia defending, with Robert Arzumanyan's attempts to shield a long punt back to Berezovsky ending in embarrassment as Ronaldo managed to get his foot in between them and nick the ball over the home keeper.

Mkoyan had also missed an attempted headed clearance just before that, and it was a similar story for Ronaldo's hat trick goal as Rumyan Hovsepyan's misjudged Rui Patricio's high kick forward.

After that it was all Ronaldo, though, the 30-year-old brilliantly bringing the ball down before racing towards goal and unleashing a thunderous 20-yard shot into the roof of the net for his fourth hat trick in his last seven competitive games.

That should also have sealed the points for Portugal, but they were forced to hang on in the end after seeing midfielder Tiago sent off for a second yellow card and Armenia get to within one goal when Mkoyan slotted home after Rui Patricio had parried a shot.