CRISTIANO RONALDO won the battle of the Galacticos as Wales' glory bid ended in heartbreak.

The Portugal star finally slayed Gareth Bale and his brave Dragons by scoring the opener and setting up Nani's second in this Euro semi-final.

Ronaldo hugged Real Madrid team-mate Bale at the final whistle.

And a gutted Bale said: "We're sorry we couldn't get to the final but we gave everything. We have no regrets. We're very proud but it wasn't meant to be.

"I felt we deserved better. We are massively disappointed.

"We tried to enjoy the experience of the tournament and we want to thank the fans and all the support we have had.

"We felt we could get more out of the game and tried our hardest to get back into it.

"We fought until the last second but they shut up shop quite well."

Ron's goal was his ninth in European Championship finals, moving him level with France's Michel Platini as the tournament's highest-ever scorer.

The Real ace headed the opener on 50 minutes and Nani grabbed the second three minutes later to down Chris Coleman's side.

Bale admitted: "Ronaldo is a natural goalscorer and has scored yet again.

"But it's not about them, it's about us. We will pick ourselves back up, we will lift the spirits and we'll go again."

Ronaldo paid tribute to his Bernabeu team-mate and to Wales for their best-ever showing at a major tournament.

He said: "Gareth is a great player, Wales have been fantastic and they deserve so much credit.

"I congratulated them on their run and wished them good luck. They were the shining star here, the revelation team."

Portugal had not won inside 90 minutes at Euro 2016 before last night.

But Ronaldo added: "It's better to start poorly and finish well.

"I want to cry tears of joy on Sunday. I've always worked very hard and been very humble."

Ron's side will meet the winners of tonight's France v Germany clash in the final in Paris — giving him the chance to surpass Platini's scoring total.

He said: "I have broken records all my life, I'm carrying on breaking them and we want to make this dream come true."