Cristiano Ronaldo was at his mercurial best during Portugal vs Spain on Wednesday night.The international break might be something of a snoozefest for many football fans, but you can never accuse Ronaldo of taking his stints with Portugal anything less than seriously.That's especially the case when the Juventus superstar is lining up for an all-Iberian clash; the very fixture in which he scored his iconic hat-trick at the 2018 World Cup.
Portugal 0-0 Spain
Sadly, this time around, there wasn't to be any dramatic free-kicks and David de Gea barely put a foot wrong, but don't be deceived by the 0-0 scoreline in terms of the entertainment factor.
Las Rojas were the dominant side throughout the first-half which, as Ronaldo noticed with an amusing reaction, was concluded a few seconds short of the regulation 45 minutes.
But once the European champions emerged from the break, they really put their foot down and were seriously unlucky not to claim the victory in front of a restricted crowd in Lisbon.
Ronaldo shines vs Spain
In fact, Ronaldo was nearly the man to have opened the scoring when he looked to notch his 102nd goal on the international stage with a fierce strike, only to see it ping back off the crossbar.
It was a lucky escape from Kepa Arrizabalaga and Spain, but their goal was set to live a charmed life oncee again just a few minutes later as the woodwork was given another rattling.
On this occasion, however, Ronaldo was turning provider as opposed to offering the finishing touch and we can't speak highly enough about his clinical delivery for Renato Sanches.
Ronaldo's incredible pass
That's because the 35-year-old whipped a superb cross with the outside of his right foot that effectively took the entire Spain defence out of the game and perfectly teed up Sanches.
Unfortunately for Ronaldo, he was robbed of the pass going down as an assist with Sanches, despite catching his strike to perfection, watching as the crossbar came to Spain's rescue.
Replays revealed that Portugal were mere millimetres away from taking the lead, but that didn't take away from the majesty of Ronaldo's pass, so be sure to check it out down below:
GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says
Claims that Ronaldo is secretly one of the the world's best playmakers are a little ham-fisted for me, but there's no denying that his passing is criminally underrated.
It's sometimes easy to think that Ronaldo is something of a footballing battering ram given his dedication to the physical side of the sport, but the intricacies of his game shouldn't be ignored.
Granted, passes always look better when they're off the outside of the foot, but the way Ronaldo essentially shaped the ball's trajectory around the retreating defence was a thing of beauty.
And it's those moments of genius that make it all the more staggering whenever you remember Ronaldo is closer to his 40th birthday than his 30th and still has so much left in the tank.
Ronaldo could retire tomorrow and still have some of the greatest statistics in international football, so his final data whenever that sad day comes looks set to be out of this world.