Lisbon, Nov 17: A double from Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Portugal to a 6-2 victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the second leg of its Euro football 2012 play-off here on Tuesday as it secured its place at next year's finals.
The 26-year-old's brace — a stunning 35 yard first-half free-kick and then a slick finish in the 53rd minute — saw him equal Luis Figo's tally of 32 international goals.
After a goalless first leg, Ronaldo looked to have sent the host on its way to a comfortable win when he broke the deadlock in the sixth minute with a superb free-kick which curled over the wall and into the net.
His strike was almost bettered before half-time by teammate Nani as the Manchester United star produced a 35 yard effort which flew past Asmir Begovic into the top right corner to make it 2-0.
The visitors reduced the deficit as Zvezjdan Misimovic converted a second-half penalty following a Fabio Coentrao handball.
Ronaldo then restored the two goal advantage, firing home after running on to a brilliant slide-rule pass by Joao Moutinho Emir Spahic reduced the margin, but the Portuguese finally killed off their opponents when veteran Helder Postiga converted from just inside the box. Miguel Veloso added a fifth with just over 10 minutes remaining with another stunning free-kick.
Postiga addeda sixth with a header from the impressive Coentrao's cross.
The play-off results: At Lisbon:Portugal 6 (Cristiano Ronaldo 2, Nani, Helder Postiga 2, Veloso) bt Bosnia-Herzegovina 2 (Misimovic, Spahic) (Portugal wins 6-2 on aggregate).
At Zagreb: Croatia 0 drew with Turkey 0 (Croatia wins 3-0 on aggregate).At Podgorica:Montenegro 0 lost to Czech Republic 1 (Jiracek) (Czech Republic wins 3-0 on aggregate).
At Dublin: Ireland 1 (Ward) drew with Estonia 1 (Vassiljev) (Ireland wins 5-1 on aggregate).
