Cristiano Ronaldo's late header sealed a deserved win for Portugal in the Euro 2012 quarterfinal clash against Czech Republic.
Here are my three thoughts on Portugal's 2-1 win over the Netherlands in Group B:
Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed his seventh hat-trick of the season as Real Madrid won the capital derby against Atletico 4-1 Wednesday.
Real Madrid took another decisive step towards their first La Liga title in four seasons with a thumping 5-1 win at Osasuna on Saturday.
Goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid won 3-2 at Real Betis in the Spanish Primera Liga on Saturday -- their 11th victory in a row.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the match with a stunning backheel as Real Madrid beat Rayo Vallecano to stay 10 points clear in the Spanish title race Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed his sixth hat-trick this season as Real Madrid went 10 points clear of arch-rivals Barcelona in Spain with a 4-2 home win over fourth-placed Levante.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two penalties as Real Madrid beat ten-man Athletic Bilbao 4-1 to maintain their five-point lead over arch rivals Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league.
Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid move three points clear in Spain ahead of the winter break with his fifth hat-trick this season in Saturday's 6-2 win at Sevilla, as both teams had a player sent off.
Goals from Angel di Maria, Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo ensured Real Madrid maintain their lead at the top of La Liga on Saturday as they coasted to a 3-0 win at Sporting Gijon.
Real Madrid moved six points clear in Spain after winning a fiery derby match against nine-man Atletico on Saturday and then seeing defending champions Barcelona suffer a shock first La Liga defeat this season.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Portugal beat 10-man Bosnia-Herzegovina 6-2 on Tuesday to qualify for the Euro 2012 finals.
MADRID -- They'd make quite a five-a-side team. The only question is which one of them would draw the short straw and be forced to play in goal. A Friday afternoon at the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid and the ESM group was presenting the Golden Boot to Cristiano Ronaldo as the continent's top scorer in 2010-2011. Alongside him on the stage sat Alfredo di Stéfano, the man many Spaniards consider the greatest player of all time, and Eusebio. In the front row, Zinedine Zidane and a couple of rows back Paulo Futre.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a superb hat-trick as Real Madrid thrashed Osasuna 7-1 to increase their lead at the top of the Spanish La Liga to three points following Barcelona's surprise 2-2 draw at Athletic Bilbao.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his battle for scoring supremacy with fellow superstar Lionel Messi with two more goals as Real Madrid reached the last 16 of the European Champions League on Wednesday.
There were contrasting fortunes for the two superstars of La Liga as Lionel Messi missed an injury time penalty for Barcelona in the Nou Camp to allow Real Madrid to go top as Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed a quickfire hat-trick.
Real Madrid began their Spanish Primera Liga campaign in style on Sunday, as Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 demolition of Real Zaragoza.
It sounds like a simple assignment: acting as general manager, assemble a soccer team featuring the best player in the world at each of the 11 positions. But as anyone who follows the sport knows, choosing that team is a complicated exercise. You want to reward the most talented individuals, of course, but you also want a coherent team. What's more, the result represents a sort of personal mission statement. How do I want to see soccer played? Is it possible in the 21st century to combine great aesthetics with winning fútbol?
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to break the record for goals in a La Liga season as Real Madrid routed Almeria 8-1 in the Bernabeu Saturday night.
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo equaled the Spanish league scoring record with two more goals in Sunday's 3-1 victory at Villarreal.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his second hat-trick in successive matches to help Real Madrid thrash city neighbors Getafe 4-0 on Tuesday and keep alive their slim hopes of winning the Spanish Primera Liga title.
Four goals from Cristiano Ronaldo laid the foundation for a thumping 6-2 win for Real Madrid over Sevilla on Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo has claimed the referee "didn't let" his Real Madrid team win Tuesday's European Champions League semifinal second leg against archrivals Barcelona.
Cristiano Ronaldo's stunning extra-time header gave Jose Mourinho his first trophy as Real Madrid coach on Wednesday, winning the Spanish Cup final 1-0 against arch-rivals Barcelona.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late penalty to give 10-man Real Madrid a 1-1 draw in the second "El Clasico" of the Spanish season on Saturday that left Barcelona on course for a third successive La Liga title.
Real Madrid could be without star striker Cristiano Ronaldo for the next three weeks due to the Portugal captain's hamstring injury.
Soccer said farewell to one of its all-time greats last week when Ronaldo announced his retirement. Brazil was awash with reflections on the career of the man with more World Cup goals than anyone else -- and Ronaldo was asked to contribute. Where would he place himself in the pantheon of Brazilian strikers?
Ronaldo has left the building. No, not that Ronaldo, the other one. Fat Ronaldo. By the end, he didn't even have exclusive use of his own name anymore; some other guy had come and taken it from him. A prefix had become necessary, a defining trait -- and a pretty sad one at that. Fat Ronaldo. Does it really have to be this way? Can't we agree on Brazilian Ronaldo instead? Or Original Ronaldo? The Original and the Best?
Three-time world footballer of the year Ronaldo is retiring, but not leaving sport for good. CNN's Pedro Pinto reports.
Three-time FIFA world player of the year Ronaldo announced his retirement from football on Monday in an emotional press conference which brought an end to his 18-year career.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona to seven points at the top of La Liga with a 4-1 home win over Real Sociedad on Sunday.
He's the most expensive player in the world, and one of the best paid, but Cristiano Ronaldo was given a very public reminder on the need to be humble on Wednesday.
He's the most expensive footballer in the world, but Cristiano Ronaldo is proving to be an absolute bargain buy for Real Madrid.
Real Madrid closed again to within two points of leaders Barcelona with a hard-fought 3-2 win at local rivals Getafe on Monday night with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice.
In-form superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi go head-to-head in Monday night's El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Camp Nou, which is set to have a significant bearing on the Spanish title race.
British-based artist Stanley Chow creates a caricature of football-superstar for CNN. (No Audio)
Lionel Messi's sixth hat-trick of 2010 helped Barcelona demolish Almeria 8-0 on Saturday night, but three goals from Cristiano Ronaldo kept Real Madrid on top in Spain ahead of next Monday's "Clasico" clash between the La Liga giants.
"F------ anxiety!" Cristiano Ronaldo was walking through the mixed zone at l'Abbé Deschamps stadium in Auxerre, France, on Sept. 28 when he uttered those words in Spanish. On one side of the barrier, the media were gathered, packed in, waiting. On the other, Ronaldo walked straight past, refusing to stop, refusing to talk. As he went by, slipping behind the board splashed with sponsors' names, he did spit out two words by way of justification, vindication or retaliation.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continued their hot goalscoring runs as Real Madrid and Barcelona moved ominously clear of their La Liga rivals in Spain on Saturday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals for the first time as Real Madrid retained top spot in Spain with a 6-1 thrashing of Racing Santander on Saturday.
Real Madrid took a big step toward reaching the second round of the Champions League with a 2-0 home win over Group G rivals AC Milan on Tuesday night, while Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Arsenal also maintained their perfect start to Europe's premier club competition.
Real Madrid thrashed rock bottom Deportivo La Coruna 6-1 in the Bernabeu on Sunday to move above champions and arch-rivals Barcelona in the La Liga standings.
Jose Mourinho leaned forward and revealed his deepest fears. "I'm worried," he said, "that someone will give Cristiano Ronaldo an hostia." An hostia is the communion wafer at the heart of the Eucharist or Holy Communion -- the consecrated bread, the host, the body of Christ. But, fear not: Mourinho wasn't scared of some unscrupulous priest forcibly converting Ronaldo to the Catholic faith; he was scared of some unscrupulous defender forcibly converting him into a heap of broken bones and bruised muscles, writhing on the ground. For hostia in Spanish also means a blow, a whack, a thump.
Cristiano Ronaldo converted a penalty in Real Madrid's 3-0 La Liga victory over Espanyol on Tuesday, a win that sent Los Blancos top of the table.
Last year, reaction to Real Madrid's decision to spend more than a quarter of a billion dollars, described by some as club president Florentino Perez's Galacticos 2.0 project, was mixed. There was no doubting the quality -- at least on paper -- of the new signings, from Cristiano Ronaldo to Xabi Alonso, from Kaka to Karim Benzema, without forgetting valuable "foot soldiers" like Raul Albiol, Alvaro Arbeloa and Esteban Granero. At the same time, the moralizers had a field day over the sheer amount of money spent while others weren't sure whether Manuel Pellegrini could meld all the big egos into a cohesive unit.
"The baby is healthy and that's what matters," says the soccer hunk's sister
The soccer star welcomes a baby boy with an unidentified woman
Real Madrid and Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed he has become a father for the first time with a mystery woman.
How 24-year-old Cristiano can ease into an injured David's role as the face of football
Days before the World Cup begins, the Portuguese athlete gets a wax figure at Madame Tussauds
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his sensational scoring form with a hat-trick on Wednesday night to keep Real Madrid's Spanish title hopes alive going into the final two matches of the season.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late headed winner as Real Madrid stayed a point behind leaders Barcelona in the Spanish title race after a dramatic 3-2 win over Osasuna on Sunday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain scored the goals that gave Real Madrid a 2-0 win at Racing Santander on Sunday -- a result that sees Manuel Pelegrini's side return to the top of the Spanish Primera Liga.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain each scored twice as Real Madrid beat city rivals Getafe 4-2 on Thursday to move back above Barcelona at the top of the Spanish Primera Liga table.
The pressure of playing for Real Madrid is greater than playing for Manchester United but Cristiano Ronaldo says he has settled into life at his new club.
CNN's Pedro Pinto sits down with football legend Cristiano Ronaldo about playing for Real Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo is to play in a special benefit match for the victims of the Madeira floods and mudslides which have claimed the lives of at least 42 people.
Brazilian World Cup hero Ronaldo says he is to retire from football at the end of next year.
Real Madrid made amends for their midweek Champions League defeat in Lyon with a 6-2 rout of Villarreal in the Bernabeu on Sunday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo netted twice on his return from a ban as Real Madrid cut the gap on Spanish leaders Barcelona to two points with a 3-0 victory at bottom club Xerez on Saturday night.
Goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo scored two first half goals in quick succession to power Real Madrid to a 2-0 win over Malaga in the Bernabeu, but also earned his second red card of the season.
The assessment came from two illustrious sources: Fabio Capello and José Mourinho. The former, the England national-team boss, said Manchester United was not "the dominant war machine it was last year." And the latter, the "Special One," opined that, without the departed Cristiano Ronaldo, United was indisputably weaker.
Cristiano Ronaldo has urged his Real Madrid teammates to carry their recent impressive form into the New Year after they cut Barcelona's lead at the top of Spain's La Liga to two points.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice for Real Madrid as they won 3-1 in Marseille on Tuesday to top Group C of Champions League qualifying.
Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off after inspiring Real Madrid to an incident-packed 4-2 victory at home to Almeria on Saturday night, in which he created a goal, scored one and also missed a penalty.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been named in Portugal's squad for their World Cup play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina despite objections from La Liga side Real Madrid.
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has been ruled out of Portugal's crucial final World Cup qualifier against Malta on Wednesday with an ankle injury and could be sidelined for up to a month.
Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that winger Cristiano Ronaldo has been ruled out of his side's La Liga clash with Sevilla on Sunday with an ankle injury.
Big summer signings Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo were on target as Real Madrid maintained their perfect start to the Spanish season with a 2-0 win over Villarreal on Wednesday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his sensational scoring form as Real Madrid again flattered to deceive before overwhelming bottom club Xerez 5-0 to take top spot in Spain.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two free-kicks on his European debut for Real Madrid, who opened their Champions League Group C campaign with a 5-2 victory away to FC Zurich on Tuesday night.
World-record signing Cristiano Ronaldo scored on his debut as Real Madrid kicked off the Spanish football season with a shaky 3-2 victory at home to Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday night.
If this summer's transfer window is any indication, we can look forward to one of the most exciting European seasons in decades. With the three most expensive transfers in the history of the game recently made for amounts previously unimaginable, the stakes are higher than ever.
Return of the Galácticos. Galácticos Strike Back. Revenge of the Galácticos. Galácticos Part Deux.
Whether it be his sublime skills or serious sulks, in six years at Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo has been no stranger to the headlines.
Cristiano Ronaldo will be unveiled as a Real Madrid player on July 6, having finally agreed terms over his world-record $130 million transfer from Manchester United.
First Kaka, now Ronaldo. The world's biggest club, Real Madrid, has gotten a whole lot bigger, as CNN's Jim Boulden reports.
There are some people who, I guess, are just not meant to be liked. Maybe they don't fit with what we expect, or perhaps there's something about them that prompts us to judge them more harshly than others. Or maybe they just don't look right.
Cristiano Ronaldo has escaped punishment over the car smash earlier this year that saw his Ferrari written off.
Love him or loathe him, the proposed world record $130m transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid has ignited fervent interest from newspapers the world over.
CNN correspondents in Madrid and London have press reaction to Real Madrid's offer for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Michel Platini, the president of the governing body for European football (UEFA), has hit out at the large fee offered by Real Madrid for the Portugal playmaker Cristiano Ronaldo.
Manchester United have accepted a world-record $130 million offer for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.
Fleet-footed winger Cristiano Ronaldo is Manchester United's most deadly weapon and officially the best footballer in the world.
Cristiano Ronaldo has moved to end speculation about his Manchester United future by dropping a clear hint that he intends to stay at Old Trafford.
Cristiano Ronaldo's sixth-minute strike saw holders Manchester United become the first English team to win in Porto, reaching the semifinals of the Champions League 3-2 on aggregate in the process.
Fanatical Manchester United fan Usain Bolt is planning to pass on his tips for speedy sprinting to their world footballer of the year Cristiano Ronaldo.
Silverware, iPods, playground spats, free booze and nights in jail. Confused? You should be, but it's all in a day's work for Team Limey in the reporting of what's happening in English soccer.
A superb free-kick from Cristiano Ronaldo gave Manchester United a 2-1 home win over Blackburn to move them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned FIFA's world player of the year in Zurich on Monday as Manchester United's star winger completed a stunning trophy collection.
As I watched Cristiano Ronaldo receive the FIFA World Player of the Year award in Zurich, I couldn't help feeling a deep sense of satisfaction, as the 23 year-old Portuguese international once again proved all his doubters wrong.
Rio Ferdinand returns to the Manchester United defense for Sunday's Premier League showdown with title rivals Chelsea while Cristiano Ronaldo will also take his place despite his high-speed car crash this week.
The Manchester United star crashes his car in an airport tunnel
Cristiano Ronaldo gave Manchester United a New Year boost by again ruling out a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a step closer to adding the World Player of the Year award to the European Ballon d'Or after being included on FIFA's five-man shortlist on Friday.
Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted he came "within a whisker" of signing for Arsenal before eventually joining their Premier League rivals Manchester United.
So Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or as European Footballer of the Year (though, in fact, it's a bit of a misnomer: Any professional in the world is now eligible). And, barring an Act of God, he'll win the FIFA World Player Award as well.
Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo was named European Footballer of the Year on Tuesday, reward for his brilliant performances for Manchester United as they completed the Premier League and Champions League double.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won football's prestigious Ballon d'Or Award - given to Europe's top player according to a panel of journalists.
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