Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has topped the Sky Sports World Cup Power Rankings after the first round of group games.
Ronaldo smashed a hat-trick past David de Gea during a scintillating 3-3 draw with Spain on Friday, scoring his third with a sublime free-kick in the 88th minute to salvage a point.
Russia kicked off the second round of group fixtures with a 3-1 win over Egypt on Tuesday to almost guarantee passage to the knockout stages – but only games from matchday one were factored in the inaugural World Cup Power Rankings.
However, Aleksandr Golovin had already soared into runner-up spot after scoring direct from a free-kick in Russia’s 5-0 rout over Saudi Arabia, while Villarreal winger Denis Cheryshev scored twice to land No 4 spot in the chart.
Luis Suarez squandered three big chances for Uruguay against Egypt on Friday but his blushes were spared by defender Jose Gimenez’s (No 3) last-gasp winner.
A moment of magic from former Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov (No 5) secured Serbia a 1-0 win over Costa Rica – scoring a stunning free-kick early in the second half.
Mexico stopper Guillermo Ochoa (No 6) was the top-ranked ‘keeper after making a tournament-topping nine saves during a shock 1-0 win against world champions Germany.
In Group G, Belgium cruised to a 3-0 victory over Panama with Romelu Lukaku (No 7) netting twice, while Harry Kane (No 8) also hit a double during England’s 2-1 win over Tunisia – scoring the match-winner in stoppage time.
Spain duo Diego Costa (No 9) and Nacho (No 10) also squeezed into the top 10 after the 3-3 thriller with Portugal, with Costa scoring twice and Nacho smashing a goal-of-the-tournament contender.
In terms of England, Harry Kane collected the highest number of points in the rankings, followed by Harry Maguire, Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli and Jordan Henderson.
The Power Rankings methodology reflects a player’s performance over the entire tournament so far by awarding points to players for 32 different stats. Below, we present this round’s Power Rankings and each nation’s top points scorer.
The Sky Sports Power Rankings will be updated after each round at the World Cup, so be sure to keep an eye on the big movers…
Comment below to get involved in the debate, but please adhere to our House Rules. If you wish to report any comment, simply click on the down arrow next to the offending comment and click ‘Report’.
Also See:
Sourse: skysports.com
