Goal's World Player of the Week: Cristiano Ronaldo

The Real Madrid and Portugal star excelled for club and country, claiming the honor over the likes of Sergio Aguero and Carlos Vela.

World Player of the Week

Cristiano Ronaldo   AGE 28 POSITION Forward PLAYS FOR Portugal/R Madrid WEEK IN NUMBERS APPS (GOALS SCORED) 2(4) TIME ON PITCH 143 PREVIOUS WINS 2

Sweden	2-3	Portugal
Almeria	0-5	Real Madrid

The two-legged World Cup playoff between Sweden and Portugal had been portrayed as a grudge match between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo. While Ibrahimovic bagged a double, it was Ronaldo who stole the show with a devastating display of attacking soccer.

His four goals over the two legs, including a second-leg hat trick, ensured Paulo Bento's men qualified for the World Cup in Brazil next year and consigned the 28-year-old to the history books, equaling the national Portuguese record for goals scored at the international level.

Not content with sending his national team to Brazil 2014, Ronaldo then set Real Madrid on its way to an emphatic victory over Liga side Almeria.
Goal's Spanish expert Ben Hayward says: "Although he ended up with a slight injury after scoring the opener for Real Madrid at Almeria on Saturday, this was a wonderful week for Cristiano Ronaldo.

"The Portuguese fired his nation to Brazil 2014 almost single-handedly as he hit a brilliant hat trick in Solna on Tuesday to deny Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sweden, having also netted the winner in the sides' first-leg playoff match in Lisbon the previous Friday.

"Those goals saw him draw level with Pauleta as Portugal's all-time top goalscorer (on 47 international strikes) and the 28-year-old now has 67 goals for club and country in 2013. With Ballon d'Or voting extended to the end of the month, he is also now the big favorite to claim the prestigious prize ahead of Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery and Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

"A memorable week for Ronaldo, then, in what has been the finest year of his career to date."