The Swiss team star believes that Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the two best players today.

“I think Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the two best players in the world. They are not of this world. The gap between them and the rest is huge. If you can play at 34 like Ronaldo, you deserve all the respect,” Goal quoted Granit Xhaka as saying after the Nations League semi-final. “Ronaldo’s class is unbelievable. He has shown it throughout his matches for both club and country. It is very difficult to stop him, with what he showed against Switzerland.”

Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to help Portugal reach the Nations League final. Photo: Reuters.

Ronaldo opened the scoring in the Nations League semi-final against Switzerland on the evening of June 5 with a direct free kick in the 25th minute. After Ricardo Rodriguez equalized the score 1-1 on the 11m mark, Ronaldo shined with a double in the last two minutes of the match, bringing Portugal to the final.

Ronaldo’s brilliant performance made Xhaka convinced: “We had a good match, even better than Portugal, but the difference was that they had Ronaldo. He is special, and always knows how to appear at the right time at the right hot spots. Switzerland thought they had locked Ronaldo down, but in the end he scored a hat-trick, and we lost the match.”

Ronaldo’s Portugal is aiming for its second consecutive title in Europe, after winning Euro 2016. In the final, they will meet the Netherlands – the team that just beat England 3-1 on the evening of June 6. Meanwhile, Switzerland will face the “Three Lions” in the bronze medal match.