Cristiano Ronaldo’s superhuman leap sent Wales back down to Earth and landed Portugal a spot in the final of Euro 2016
CRISTIANO RONALDO had been far from his brilliant best during this Euro 2016 campaign.
With just two efforts in five games before Wednesday night’s Wales clash, the tournament’s leading shot-taker was lagging far behind his deadly goal-a-game strike rate for Real Madrid.
And Portugal had incredibly failed to win a single game in normal time, despite somehow reaching the semis.
45-minutes in to the blockbuster clash in Lyon, it looked as if Ronaldo was in for another evening of frustration.
Bernabeu team-mate Gareth Bale was pulling strings for the Dragons as Portugal were restricted to swinging hopeful balls into the box for their talisman to attack.
And with man mountains like Ashley Williams and James Collins to compete with, it looked like Ron had his work cut out.
But, with one trademark moment of magic, Ronaldo was back – and he set up his date with international destiny on Sunday night.
The attacker’s Superman-style leap – and resulting bullet header - five minutes after the break sent Wales crashing back down to Earth, and landed Portugal a spot in the Paris showdown.
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Full back Raphael Guerreiro fired in an out-swinging cross from the left and Ronaldo managed to isolate James Chester at the back post.
The three-time Ballon d’Or winner’s smart movement earned him a moment’s breathing space – and his incredible jump left the former Hull defender no chance.
And one look at the stats behind the leap explains why.
Within a split second, 6ft 1in Ronaldo was a towering 8ft 7in in the air - meaning a mega leap of TWO-AND-A-HALF FEET.
And the skipper appeared to be in the air for an eternity as the ball arced its way towards his head - with a superhuman hang time of 0.85SECONDS.
The end result? A 44.3MPH rocket fired past helpless keeper Wayne Hennessey.
And he was not finished there as a miscued strike was diverted in by Nani just three minutes later to hammer the final nail in the Welsh coffin.
Ronaldo can now finally lead his nation to glory against either France or Germany in Sunday's showpiece.