Brazil's talisman proved his striking instincts - and his temper - remain intact. He accused Turkey defender Bulent Korkmaz of stamping and also thumping him and he needed to be surrounded by the Brazilian substitutes in the tunnel to prevent his rival from exacting revenge.

Ronaldo connects for his game-winner vs. Turkey.

'We fell together to the floor and when I got back up that is when I had the problem,' Ronaldo said.

'He stepped on me and I felt him hit me with his fist on my head. That made me very angry. I was furious. That is the only reason that I reacted as I did.'

But his sixth goal of the competition four minutes after half-time ensured that this World Cup of shocks will be contested by the established powers.

Ronaldo promises this Final will not be preceded by panic attacks and demons. His career path had appeared to plummet into ruin after the drama of his distressed appearance in the 1998 Final against France.

He said: 'I will not detail to you the two years of suffering I had. All I can say is that every goal I score now is a victory. Every time I walk on to the pitch it is an honour, a joy. I have to say that the nightmare is over.'

It has been impossible to ignore him in Japan, and Wednesday was no exception.

Like a certain England player revered around the globe, he uses his head of hair - or lack of it - as a statement, turning out with just a wedge-shaped tuft above his forehead yesterday.

'When I saw him with that haircut, I knew it was a positive sign that he would be fit to play in the semi-final,' said his coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

'But with what happened before the game and during the game we decided that if we wanted him to be fresh for one more match then it would be wise to substitute him.'

Big Phil knows his man. He knows, too, the talismanic effect he has on his side, who struggled to qualify yet now stand on the brink of an historic fifth triumph in football's greatest competition.

Ronaldo, like David Beckham, was ushered back ahead of time - yet he has still scored six goals and is the tournament's leading marksman.

There can be no questioning the resolve with which he has returned to the game he learned around the shanty towns. He still moves with stealth and menace, still drifts into threatening positions. And he still scores goals.

Who knows what will pass through his mind over the four days until the final? He is older now, more mature, and the panic that struck like a thief in the night to steal his glory in Paris has dispersed. 'I focus everything on the next match,' he said.

'I shall spend my time resting and recovering. I am still building my fitness and I had some pain in my legs so I need the time,' he said.

The irony was that a man who can strike the ball so cleanly should score the winner in this entertaining match with what looked like a toe-poke.

He does not mind how they go in, but he is elated by the restoration of his prowess. In his last three seasons in Italy, he managed only 14 games and scored eight times.

He revealed that while his despair was at its worst, Pele visited him at his home and recounted how his career was written off through injury in 1966, only for him to return in triumph in 1970.