Cristiano Ronaldo won the battle of football’s superstars to send Portugal to the World Cup.
Having put his nation in the driving seat in last week’s first tie, the Real Madrid man scored again in Tuesday night’s return leg to put the Portuguese 2-0 ahead on aggregate and within touching distance of Brazil.
However, the fixture’s other main protagonist then took centre stage.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has lit up European football with a series of stunning goals in recent weeks, stepped up to grab a quick brace and bring Sweden right back into the tie.
But, with the Swedes pushing for the goal they needed to overcome Portugal’s away-goal advantage, Ronaldo struck with two minutes of sheer fantasy football.
First, he sprinted on to a through ball to dispatch a left-foot shot past the Sweden keeper.
And then, with Ibrahimovic himself reduced to applauding the Portuguese, Ronaldo ended any home hopes by bagging his hat-trick with a right-foot rocket high into the net to complete an individual performance that will live long in the memory.
In the other qualifiers, France turned round a 2-0 first-leg deficit by beating Ukraine 3-0 in Paris to claim their place in the finals.
Greece drew 1-1 in Romania for a 4-2 aggregate victory, and the fourth European play-off place goes to Croatia who won 2-0 at home against Iceland following a 0-0 draw in the first leg.