Ronaldo inspires Portugal's World cup Hope

Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to keep Portugal's hopes of automatic World Cup qualification alive, breaking the deadlock in a hard-fought 2-0 win away to Andorra in Group B.

Ronaldo, one booking away from a suspension, was named among the substitutes on Saturday by coach Fernando Santos ahead of the crunch clash against Switzerland on Tuesday.

But, after a goalless first half, Santos was forced to turn to his star man and risk Ronaldo getting a yellow card that would see him missing that crucial concluding fixture.

The Real Madrid superstar thrived on the pressure by scoring his 15th goal of the qualifying campaign to draw level with Poland's prolific Robert Lewandowski 18 minutes after his introduction, poking in a Joao Mario cross from close range.

Ricardo Quaresma and Bernardo Silva were wasteful but an Andorra equaliser was never likely and Andre Silva scrambled in a late second to guarantee the points for his side, while Ronaldo successfully avoided a booking.

UCJ, UNILORIN.