It just had to be a Real Madrid player who inflicted more pain on Spain, didn’t it? Two days after their coach, Julen Lopetegui, was sacked for negotiating to become Real’s next manager behind the Spanish Football Federation’s back, the man who has been that club’s driving force for almost a decade ensured the Madrid side continued to cast a large shadow over their World Cup.
Real’s appointment of Lopetegui had been very much of the cloak-and-danger variety, but there was nothing covert about the way Cristiano Ronaldo pulled Spain’s pants down here.
He wants his deeds to be seen by all and, to that end, the Fisht Stadium became the latest stop on Ronaldo’s mission to prove, once and for all,...