Cristiano Ronaldo becomes fourth player to score in four World Cups with penalty against Spain
Real Madrid man put positive spin on difficult day personally and inflicts more pain on La Roja with opening goal
CRISTIANO RONALDO became only the fourth man to score in four different World Cups with his penalty against Spain.
The Real Madrid man put a positive on what had been a difficult day on a personal level.
Just hours before kick-off, he was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence and fined £16.5million by the Spanish government for tax fraud.
But he put all of that out of his mind with a superb start to the 2018 World Cup.
After just three minutes, he won his side a penalty after being tripped by Nacho and showed incredible coolness to slot home from 12 yards and notch his first-ever goal against Spain.
While the strike also saw him enter a very exclusive club as it was scored in a fourth different World Cup.
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Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup goals
2006
Portugal 2 Iran 0
2010
Portugal 7 North Korea 0
2014
Portugal 2 Ghana 1
Ronaldo added a second just before half-time after a howler by David De Gea, and a third with an amazing last-minute free-kick.
The Real Madrid ace now has 51 career hat-tricks - the same amount as there have been in World Cup history.
His first World Cup goal came from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win over Iran back in 2006. And he was on the scoresheet in 2010 and again four years later.
However, incredibly, this was the first time he had ever scored more than once in the same tournament, putting him on six.
Pele and Germany's Uwe Seeler were the first achieve the feat, each netting in 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970.
Miroslav Klose became the third man to do it, scoring in 2002, 2006, 2010 and in 2014, where he became the tournament's all-time top goal scorer with 16.