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The striker is finally living up to his club reputation by becoming the most dangerous player at Euro 2012

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are far and away the outstanding attacking players of their generation, the first two in any consideration of the world's most skilful footballers with the rest some distance behind, yet neither has so far managed to perform as convincingly or as successfully for their country as they have consistently done at club level.

With this tournament, Ronaldo may be about to alter all that and maybe give his great Barcelona rival something to chase for a change. The Real Madrid player is appearing in his fifth tournament, yet never before has he delivered for Portugal to this extent. He already has three goals in the tournament and important goals too.

There were the two that so emphatically dispatched Holland in the final group game, followed by the single strike against the Czech Republic that saw Portugal become the first team to reach the last four. He may be viewed as only the 12th best player in the world in Barcelona but Ronaldo is looking more and more like the most dangerous player in this European Championship, and even Catalonia will have to pay homage if he survives the next obstacle and steers his side to the final.

"We have given ourselves a 50-50 chance of reaching the final," Ronaldo said. "We have the quality and we just have to keep believing."

Given that Ronaldo is capable of raising his game to meet the most demanding challenges, and that is exactly what awaits in Donetsk, he could be about to dominate a tournament for the first time. His performance against the Dutch left seasoned observers reaching for superlatives and if his display in the quarter-final was less dazzling, that was possibly due to the entire Czech team sitting behind the ball in an attempt to deny him space.

Even then Ronaldo scored a high quality goal and managed to hit the post at either end, though he will know that no opponents between now and the end of the tournament will set out their stall quite so defensively. Sitting back is a risky option anyway, as the Czechs found out, if it means inviting silky runners such as Nani and João Moutinho to keep coming at you. On the other hand, try to keep a high line and Ronaldo is becoming the tournament's expert at the well-timed run, with Moutinho and Raul Meireles only too happy to keep up a supply of diagonal passes into the space behind defences.

As the tournament goes into its final week it is debatable whether any other side have an individual as capable of influencing a result on his own as Ronaldo, who whether stationing himself out on the left wing or running free in the middle to operate as the nearest thing Portugal have to an out-and-out striker, has become the go-to man for his country.

While other sides may have more creative talents – Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and the evergreen Andrea Pirlo spring to mind, with Steven Gerrard not looking too shabby for England – Ronaldo is the master of explosive impact and if he is at anything like his best in the next game Portugal must have a decent chance of reaching their second European Championship final in eight years.

"We really prepared hard to cope with him but he is a player of the greatest class," the Czech coach, Michal Bilek, said after their quarter-final defeat. "He was able to rise to the occasion."

Opponents will naturally keep trying to find a way to stop Ronaldo, yet must be wary of regarding Portugal as a one-man team. Portugal have skilful and dangerous performers all over the pitch, from the scandalously underrated Fábio Coentrão at left-back to the mobile and unpredictable Nani on the right wing, who may be destined to be forever regarded as Ronaldo-Lite because of the Manchester United connection but would merit a place in most teams if he could only find a little more consistency.

Portugal's real hidden strength is their midfield trio of Moutinho, Meireles and Miguel Veloso. Perhaps not quite in the Spain class but more than comfortable on the ball and becoming ever more adept at something approaching tiki taka. Although the Czechs hardly made retaining possession difficult, a lot of teams would have become exasperated by their dogged defensiveness.

Portugal just kept plugging away at an even tempo until the gap finally appeared and Nani was able to slip Moutinho in behind the defence to supply a cross from which Ronaldo could hardly fail to score. It was a real team effort, not that you would have guessed from the goal celebration.

Yet give Ronaldo his due, he is not only scoring some excellent goals and leading Portugal by example, he is providing the special ingredient that gives his side their potency. Maybe he is about to make a name for himself as Euro 2012's special ingredient. A team who can keep him quiet for 90 minutes will deserve to reach the final. Read More

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