Ronaldo's time is now

In Portugal's opening two games, everyone kept on complaining about his 'under-performance'. I wasn't fazed, neither was he. The first game was against Germany who are the outright favorites to win the competition. The second, was against Denmark who had just beaten the Netherlands. These aren't excuses for Ronaldo. Honestly, i think he did his part. He set up too many chances for his teammates but they were wasteful. In the game against the Netherlands, everything came back to him scoring a brace in the process. Ronaldo put them through to the next round. with his help again, scoring the only goal, Portugal dispatched Petr Cech's Republic.
On Wednesday, he plays his biggest match so far in the tournament; against Spain in the Iberian Derby. He's played against La Roja 3 times. The first was in Euro 2004 when Portugal won by a goal. The next meeting was in the 2010 World Cup when they lost by a David Villa rebound. Spain were the eventual winners of the competition. Later that year, in November, Portuguese fans were left in disbelief after their team's 4-0 victory in Lisbon. Ronaldo played only 45 minutes. He put on such a good display and should have been on the score-sheet. He made a characteristic burst down the left, put Pique on his back with a super sharp turn and left Alonso in his wake before chipping the ball perfectly over Casillas. Unfortunately, Nani headed the already goal-bound ball into the net from an offside position and it was disallowed.
On Wednesday, it will be a different ball game. Ronaldo is yet to emulate the form he showed for his club. His Real Madrid teammates know him very well and so do the Barcelona players. Casillas said, "I don't think Ronaldo is quite at his best level, because he put in an incredible season at Real Madrid". He hasn't scored against Spain before. Tactically, the only way he'd be able to deal the final blow is if he's given more freedom upfront by his coach. He could be La Roja's worst nightmare or their key to qalification if they stop him. Whichever hairstyle he appears with doesn't matter, his boots will do the talking.