Topics: UEFA Nations League, Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Switzerland
He turns up, he shoots, he scores!

Portugal cruised past Switzerland to become the first country to reach the finals of the UEFA Nations League. The Selecao's fate was sealed after the genius of Cristiano Ronaldo fetched the Euro 2016 winners three goals at the Estadio do Dragao.

In what was a keenly contested encounter, it was the 34-year-old skipper of Fernando Santos' side who broke the deadlock in the 25th-minute with his trademark knuckleball free-kick. Having entered the halftime break with the goal deficit, Switzerland restored parity through Ricardo Rodriguez after a controversial penalty decision went in their favor.

Not much ensued afterward although both sides had a host of glorious chances to take the lead. However, the proceeding was brought back to life with just two minutes of regulation time to play after Cristiano Ronaldo made no error of a pass from Bernardo Silva inside Switzerland's penalty area.

Moments after grabbing his second of the night, a swift counter-attacking move was finished off by the prolific Juventus forward, curling the ball into the bottom right corner to seal his hat-trick.

As a result, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first-ever player in the history of the Nations League to score three goals in the semi-final of the competition. The Portuguese forward subsequently took his international goal tally to 88 in 157 caps and the number of career hat-tricks to 53.

Watch all the goals below [geo-restriction may apply]: