Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo started his 2018 World Cup campaign with a bang.

The 33-year-old forward scored a hat-trick against Spain in Portugal's opening match before scoring the winner in a 1-0 win over Morocco.

Ronaldo is leading the way for the Golden Boot award with four goals, while Spain's Diego Costa and Russia's Denis Cheryshev each have one fewer.

His rival Leo Messi has failed to find the back of the net with Argentina and the 31-year-old's World Cup dream is currently hanging by a thread.

Argentina were thoroughly outplayed in a 3-0 defeat by Croatia on Thursday night, five days after drawing 1-1 with Iceland.

They need to beat Nigeria in their final group game to stand any chance of progressing to the knockout stages.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo is earning plenty of praise with his performances in Russia but one BBC pundit isn't quite so impressed.

Fabregas on Ronaldo

Cesc Fabregas has been working as a pundit for the BBC and shared his thoughts in his Friday morning column.

The Chelsea midfielder is a close friend of Messi and gave his honest opinion of Ronaldo's impact in the early stages.

Fabregas wrote, as per the BBC: "These days, Cristiano Ronaldo has a very different role for Portugal - he mainly stays up front and you no longer see him running all over the pitch.

"He is one of the big names in Russia who has made a strong start to this World Cup, in terms of goals, with four so far.

"Yes, he is playing well, but if you really look at what he has done, he has scored one penalty, one free-kick, one goal from a corner and one with a shot that David de Gea should have saved.

"You cannot say that he and Portugal have shown great combinations or tiki-taka football to score great goals.

"You have to give him credit, of course, but his goals have come from set-pieces, penalties or mistakes."

Pretty harsh!

And you can bet that Ronaldo's fans won't appreciate Fabregas playing down his World Cup goalscoring exploits.

The Spanish international singled out former Arsenal teammate Carlos Vela for special praise following his performance against Germany.

Fabregas added: "In terms of the individual players who have impressed me the most, Vela deserves a mention for what he did against Kroos.

"Vela left Real Sociedad to join Los Angeles FC at the start of the year and people seem to think that when you go to the MLS, or that type of league, your level drops.

"That was not the case when he played against Germany, because Kroos could not shake him off.

"He tried but he could not influence the game."

Does Fabregas make a valid point about Ronaldo? Let us know your thoughts below.