Hungary 3 Portugal 3: Cristiano Ronaldo double saves Portugal from Euro 2016 elimination

CRISTIANO RONALDO scored twice to save Portugal from a Euro 2016 exit as they were forced to come from behind three times to draw with Hungary.

Ronaldo's brilliant second-half double was enough to scramble a draw - and meant they scraped through Group F in third place with Hungary on top.

Coming into the game, all the pressure was on Portugal with Hungary almost certain of place in the knock-out stages as a third-placed side at least.

And after making the better start of the two teams, it was Hungary who made the first breakthrough on 19 minutes through Zoltan Gera.

The former Fulham and West Brom man made the most of a poor clearing header from Nani to control on his chest and then drill home a low shot from 25-yards.

Almost immediately, news come through that Iceland had taken the lead against Austria and all of a sudden Portugal were staring elimination in the face.

Ronaldo looked rattled, and three long-range free-kicks failed to cause Gabor Kiraly too much concern in the Hungary goal.

But three minutes before the break, the Real Madrid star created the equaliser with a perfect pass through for Nani to fire low into Kiraly's near post.

The game exploded into life after the break with three goals in the first ten minutes of the second half.

Hungary scored their second on 49 minutes when Dzsudzak saw his free-kick from the right take a wicked deflection to fly past the stranded Rui Patricio.

Portugal hit back immediately when Ronaldo's brilliant flick round the back of his legs found it's way into the far corner.

But Hungary refused to buckle and on 55 minutes restored their lead, and again it was Dzsudzak who saw another shot deflect into the top corner.

The game was turning into a thriller, and no sooner had Austria equalised against Iceland in Paris, Portugal were drawing level here.

And again it was Ronaldo, this time finding space to power a header into the back of the net.

Portugal knew they were back in automatic qualifying position, but they could ill afford any more mistakes so pushed ahead looking for the winner.

Ronaldo sent another headed chance wide of goal before snatching at a volley from 12-yards over when he should have hit the target.

When the full-time whistle blew, Portugal thought they had done enough to finish second and set up a last 16 date with England.

But Iceland's late winner relegated them to third and now Ronaldo and co are likely to come up against Croatia in the knock-out stage.