Ronaldo on his hat-trick and his message to the fans

You settled a match once again, another hat-trick. Talk us through it ...

Cristiano Ronaldo: Clearly these were three very important goals, beautiful goals. Obviously I'm very happy. But the most important is that we won and that the team have qualified for the final, which was our objective.

Switzerland were very competitive but Portugal, a team full of youngsters, made it hard and ultimately got the better of them. What was your analysis?

Ronaldo celebrates before the home fans©AFP/Getty Images

Ronaldo: It was a difficult match. Switzerland are an excellent team. They played well and were very dangerous but Portugal had more chances and the chances we had we took. We are deserved winners. We are happy to be in the final and the team deserves a lot of credit.

I also want to send a message to the fans: they played a fundamental role and supported us a lot. I hope that the final will be full too, and that people will support us from start to finish. It will give us the motivation and strength to win this competition.

Your opponents in the final will be England or the Netherlands. Who would you prefer?

Ronaldo: The objective was to get through. Whoever we face now will be difficult. Both the Netherlands and England are excellent teams and either will present great opposition. I hope that Portugal can win, that the stadium will be full and that the fans can support us like they did today. We are stronger together.