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Return of the champion: Ronaldo graces Luzhniki 10 yrs after 1st UCL win in stadium

20 Jun, 2018 11:54
Return of the champion: Ronaldo graces Luzhniki 10 yrs after 1st UCL win in stadium
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Cristiano Ronaldo will grace the Luzhniki Stadium turf when he captains Portugal against Morocco in their World Cup Group B match one decade after winning his first Champions League title in the same stadium.

Ronaldo netted a stunning header during the 2008 Champions League final against Chelsea, but with the game tied at 1-1 after extra time, the winger dramatically missed his spot kick during the penalty shoot-out.

The man from Madeira went on to lift the trophy however, as Chelsea captain John Terry then slipped and missed the deciding penalty leaving Edwin van Der Sar to save Nicolas Anelka's strike to hand United a third European title.

Ronaldo that year went on to Ballon d’Or honors, being named the best player in the world for his efforts helping United win the Premier League that season in an historic double.

Fast forward a decade and Ronaldo returns to Luzhniki as the current world’s best player and, having won the Champions League with current club Real Madrid last month, could be in the running to extend his ownership of that title another season.

Could those omens see we are about to see Ronaldo get his hands on another piece of silverware in Russia and bag the biggest prize of all? We will get a clearer picture of the answer to that question after the match with Morocco.  

READ MORE: He's the best player in the world, but should pay taxes – Portugal fans on Ronaldo fraud scandal

In Portugal’s Group B opener against Spain, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to rescue a point in Sochi in a pulsating 3-3 draw on the same day he was handed an astonishing two-year suspended jail term and agreed to pay an €18.2 million (US$21 million) fine to settle tax fraud allegations with the authorities in Spain