SPA 3-3 POR: Ronaldo scores hattrick in World Cup opener

Cristiano Ronaldo lit the stage on fire as he scored a hattrick against Spain in a classic match that ended in 3-3 in their Group B opener in the World Cup.

 Ronaldo was obstructed by Nacho and the centre referee awarded a penalty to Portugal in the 3rd minute as Ronaldo made no mistake to convert the spot kick to put the Selecao ahead in the early minute.

Spain dominated the game as expected in the early minute. Silva had an opportunity to equalise but he blasted the goal opportunity.

Koke was shown a yellow after a challenge on Portuguese player. Spain had another opportunity to equalise but Silva was unable to convert it from a close range.

Diego Costa equalised for Spain after a bullish attack on Pepe and he found his way into the box to score the equaliser in the 24th minute, Isco almost scored the second goal but his strike was denied by the crossbar and Alba failed to get the right contact to put the ball into the net.

The game was a typical end to end attacking match, Spain had a nice build up but Andres Iniesta failed to get the target as the ball went narrowly went wide the mark.

With five minutes to end the first half Spain push forward to get the second goal as Portugal absorbed pressure in the defence.

Ronaldo grabbed his brace in the 45th minute after David de Gea fumbled on handling the Portuguese forward bullet. The first half ended in favour of Portugal.

Portugal started the second half in an offensive manner after pushed forward to take the game to Spain, The La Roja took control of the game and in the 54th minute Costa scored the equaliser again after the Spanish tap in from a close range from Sergio Busquets

hander.

Nacho scored a screamer in the 58th minute for Spain to give La Roja a comfortable lead.

Portugal made the first substitute in the 67th minute as Jao Mario was thrown in to replace Bruno Fernandez, Ricardo Quaresma was brought in to replace Bernardo Silva while Spain substituted Iniesta for Thiago Alcantara in the 69th minute.

Spain substituted Costa for Iago Aspas in the 77th minute, Ander Silva was brought in for Guedes with 10 minutes left. Spain dominated the game with a high retention game.

Spain made their final substitution as Lucas Vazquez came in for David Silva.

Ronaldo scored his third goal against a helpless De Gea in the 88th minute to level the game for Portugal.