The full-time whistle sounded to end a breathle s, bombastic second half at Sweden's Nationalerenan in Stockholm. Portugal had booked their place at the 2014 World Cup and Nuno Matos, the match commentator for Antena 1 radio had entirely lost the run of himself."Hat-trick for Cristiano Ronaldo!" he cried. "Hat-trick for the world's best! Hat-trick that takes Portugal to Brazil! Saaaaaamba!!!!! Ronaldo!!!!!! He's unique! He surpa ses the limits of logic! It's glory, it's victory, it Nolan Ryan Jersey 's a supreme moment!"Sure, it was only a qualification playoff, made nece sary because Portugal hadn't managed to win their group, but it is impo sible to a se s the record-breaking majestic of Ronaldo's international career without combing through what unfolded in the space of five late autumn days in 2013.Still under Paulo Bento after their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2012, the Selecao had to settle for second spot behind Ru sia in Group F. The top two shared 1-0 home wins over one another, although a pair of draws with Israel and another at home to Northern Ireland hindered Portugal's hopes.MORE: They were drawn to face Sweden in a two-legged, winner-takes-all encounter, a tie that was instantly billed as a showdown between the superstar qualities of Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.Ronaldo was on his way to back-to-back Ballon d'Or titles after ending Me si's hegemony in 2013. It meant the argument over who was the greatest had some more perpetual fuel and Ibrahimovic placed some of his own inimitable emphasis at the centre of the debate.At a time of near-universal celebration of Me si and, by extension, the Barcelona model, Zlatan was a loud di senting voice. He joined Barca from Inter Milan in 2009, bolstering a formidable side that had won a Champions League, LaLiga and Copa del Rey treble under Pep Guardiola the previous season. Although he produced a solid goalscoring return, Ibrahimovic's relationship with Guardiola grew cold and the player tired of what he perceived to be a subservient dre sing room attitude that served the coach and star man Me si."It started well but then Me si started to talk. He wanted to play in the middle, not on the wing, so the system changed from 433 to 451," he claimed in his autobiography I Am Zlatan. "I was sacrificed and no longer had the freedom on the pitch I need to succeed."Ibrahimovic's career did not particularly suffer as he moved first to AC Milan and then to Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, continuing to Michael Conforto Jersey collect titles and generally tell everyone how fantastic he was. He stood as the antithesis of Barca's Cruyffian collectivism that had served to elevate Me si. By extension, as the worlds two leading players came to appear increasingly polarised, Ibrahimovic was lumped onto the Ronaldo side of the argument.MORE:The two looked like kindred footballing spirits. If Me si's greatne s sometimes felt bequeathed by some sort of otherworldly magic, Zlatan and Cristiano powered to the summit gym se sion by gym se sion, shooting drill after shooting drill. Their excellence came in the form of brute and precision-engineered physicality, allayed with sublime technical qualities and encased in a mentality that skirted the boundaries of undiluted self-belief and arrogance.Admittedly, a lot of Ronaldo's presumed self-regard was projected by the ma ses. Ibrahimovic simply went around calling himself a "lion" all the time. Either way, it was a blockbuster of Hollywood proportions that was not to be mi sed irrespective of the meagre qualities of their supporting casts, whose lower statuses made the mano a mano matchup all the more intriguing.The first leg at Lisbon's Estadio da Luz was a tense affair. Portugal made most of the Adrian Gonzalez Jersey running, although they had to wait until the 82nd minute to find the breakthrough when Ronaldo bravely flung himself into a diving header on the end of Miguel Veloso's left-wing cro s.The two sides continued to joust and probe during the first half of the return game in Stockholm, with Ronaldo clipping a half-chance over and Ibrahimovic blasting a volley off target. After the interval, all hell broke loose.On this day in 2013, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored two goals for Sweden against Portugal...But Cristiano Ronaldo scored THREE to send his country to the World Cup GOAL (@goal) Joao Moutinho found a perfect through ball in the 50th minute. Ronaldo darted onto from the right flank Jose Reyes Jersey , angling his run acro s the field and clipping a cool left-footed finish over Andreas Isak son in the Sweden goal.Your move, Zlatan. The Sweden striker rose midway through the second period to head home a corner, making the most of some static Portugal marking. In the 72nd minute, Ibrahimovic thundered home a low free-kick from the edge of the penalty area to give the hosts the lead on the night and bring them level on aggregate.The momentum of the occasion and a boisterous crowd were against the Selecao. However, as Sweden poured forward in the 77th minute, substitute Hugo Almeida lofted a pa s into the left channel for Ronaldo. Again his balance, poise and athleticism made a half-chance feel like a formality and he buried another strike with his weaker foot.Two minutes later, it was all over. Again the Sweden backline were beguiled by Ronaldo's movement, he drew Isak son and smashed into the roof of the net, completing his hat-trick and leaving Nuno Matos and Portugal fans everywhere to scream themselves hoarse.In hindsight, a prime Ronaldo enjoying such a banner night in Portugal colours was something to savour. For Bento's team, this was as good as their 2014 World Cup campaign got.MORE:Far from samba-ing his way into Brazil, Ronaldo arrived with tendinitis in his left knee, an ailment he had managed while helping Real Madrid to Champions League glory with a 4-1 final win over rivals Atletico Madrid immediately prior to the tournament."If I'd rested my body, I would have recovered," he said reflecting upon those frantic weeks in the middle of 2014. "I didn't want to mi s the Champions League final or the World Cup. Sometimes a sportsman has to take his body to the limit, you have to take risks. I forced myself to play. For my club side things went Dwight Gooden Jersey well, for Portugal not so well."They began in chaotic fashion, thrashed 4-0 by eventual winners Germany as Thomas Muller plundered a hat-trick and Pepe was sent off. That goal difference hit would prove decisive as Portugal scrambled to a 2-2 draw against the United States and beat Ghana 2-1 thanks to a Ronaldo goal 10 minutes from time. It could not save the Selecao from group-stage elimination.Still, any of the disquiet that surrounded his penalty faux pas at Euro 2012 had di sipated. With increasing regularity, most notably in the battle with Sweden, Portugal had benefitted from Ronaldo at his Real Madrid best and then some. Their pursuit of elusive glory would stand and fall with him, remaining tied to their star forward