• Europe

Hat-tricks for Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic ahead of World Cup play-offs

ESPN staff
November 9, 2013
Ronaldo celebrates opening the scoring for Madrid © Getty Images
Enlarge

Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both scored hat-tricks in their final club games before going head-to-head in next week's World Cup play-offs.

Real Madrid and Portugal forward Ronaldo notched his second successive triple at the Bernabeu as Real Sociedad became the latest side to be put to the sword by Real's expensively-assembled forwards in a 5-1 mauling.

Ronaldo struck three in the 7-3 victory over Sevilla last week, and repeated the feat on Saturday to take his league tally to 16 for the season.

The 28-year-old also set up Madrid's second for Karim Benzema in the 18th minute, while Gareth Bale's pass helped Sami Khedira make it 4-0 in the 36th.

Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, scored all three in a 3-1 win over Nice to ensure Paris St Germain go into the international break top of Ligue 1.

The Sweden striker opened the scoring six minutes before the break, and then doubled the lead with a penalty early in the second half.

Nemanja Pejcinovic reduced the deficit with 20 minutes to go, but Ibrahimovic got his third soon afterwards to seal the win.

Portugal and Sweden will face off in the Estadio Nacional, Lisbon, on November 15 before the second leg at the Friends Arena in Stockholm four days later.

In the other World Cup play-offs, Ukraine take on France, whom they have never beaten in seven meetings, while Greece play Romania and Iceland face Croatia

Ibrahimovic scores his and PSG's third © Getty Images
Enlarge

Download ESPN's new UK sport app, a fresh and powerful new way to follow your favourite UK sports news, scores and video.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
ESPN staff Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices