Cristiano Ronaldo shines as Portugal beat Sweden to qualify for the World Cup

Cristiano Ronaldo powers Portugal into the World Cup with an emphatic hat-trick at Friends Arena.

The captain opened the scoring five minutes after the restart only to see Zlatan Ibrahimovic give hope to Sweden with a brace on 68 and 72 minutes. However, it was El Comandante who became the hero of the night as he killed off the game with two more goals on 77 and 79 minutes.

“I know Portugal needed me in these matches and I showed that I am here,” claimed Ronaldo after the match.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who will hardly ever be able to score at a World Cup in his life, admitted Portugal are a stronger team and they proved so during the play-off.

France have completed a miraculous comeback and beat stubborn Ukraine 3-0 to make it to the final tournament. Mamadou Sakho, Karim Benzema and an own goal from Oleh Husyev overturned a two-goal deficit after the first leg and saved France from missing the World Cup for the first time since 1994.

Croatia overcame Iceland courtesy of goals from Mario Mandzukic and Dario Srna despite being down to 10 men for the entire second half after a reckless foul from Bayern Munich striker on Johann Gudmundsson.

Kostas Mitroglou scored again to guide Greece into the final tournament with a 1-1 draw in Romania.

Mexico beat New Zealand again to get a 9-3 aggregate win and qualify for the summer tournament. Oribe Peralta shone n the second match netting a hat-trick.

Ghana and Algeria secured their places in Brazil in African qualification zone.