Cristiano Ronaldo Rape

PORTUGAL vs MOROCCO – Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal during the match between Portugal and Saudi Arabia valid for the second round of Group B of the 2018 World Cup held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. (Credit Image: © Marcelo Machado De Melo/Fotoarena via ZUMA Press & RealTime Images.)

World Cup 2018: The fastest players at the tournament

Ronaldo has to share the top spot with a Croatian hotshot.

Cristiano Ronaldo Rape

PORTUGAL vs MOROCCO – Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal during the match between Portugal and Saudi Arabia valid for the second round of Group B of the 2018 World Cup held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. (Credit Image: © Marcelo Machado De Melo/Fotoarena via ZUMA Press & RealTime Images.)

The 2018 World Cup has been played at a ferocious pace, and its largely thanks to the tricky speedsters on the list of fastest players on the planet.

There’s no greater sight in football than a player hitting fifth gear and charging towards the opposition’s defence. We saw 19-year-old French sensation Kylian Mbappe use his pace to devastating effect vs Argentina, but we’ve got a surprise for you.

Young Mbappe isn’t even in the top ten quickest footballers clocked at this year’s tournament. He’s certainly lightning fast, but he’s got some competition:

Who are the fastest players at the 2018 World Cup?

First:Ante Rebic (Croatia) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 34.0km/h.

Second: Luis Advincula (Peru) 33.8km/h.

Third: Marcus Rashford (England) 33.7km/h.

Fifth: Santiago Arias (Colombia) 33.6km/h.

Sixth: Kyle Walker and Jesse Lingard (both England) – 33.5km/h.

Seventh: Maciej Rybus (Poland), Marquinhos (Brazil), Aleksandar Golovin (Russia), Dani Carvajal (Spain), Hirving Lozano (Mexico) and Heechan Hwang (South Korea) – 33.3km/h.

How fast is Cristiano Ronaldo?

It looks like CR7 just isn’t going to age any time soon. The Portuguese clocked a 34km/h dash in his side’s 3-3 draw with Spain last month. Some speculate he was pushing the 40km/h mark, but FIFA’s official statistics say otherwise:

Peru’s Luis Advincula is also in the top three. He’s known as one of the fastest footballers in the world and has been able to register a speed of 33.8km/h this World Cup. Here he is in action – blink, and you might miss him.

It looks like Wednesday’s semi-final between Croatia and England will be a fast and furious one. England have a total of three players inside the top 13 speedsters, whereas Croatia’s Ante Rebic has matched Ronaldo’s blistering pace.

Our thoughts go out to all defenders during this difficult time.