He takes centre stage, always. And the bigger that stage, the more he wants and demands it. He is not just one of the best players to have graced this game but one of the bravest. He never hides, he is always prepared to fail, yet so rarely does. And it is not just ego that drives him to take control, but valour. Of course he could lay it off; of course he could take up the secondary space, let another take the responsibility of winning the game. But he won't.
It is his job to send Real Madrid to another final; it is his job to finish off their cussed city rivals. And he has, barring a fightback bordering on the miraculous. Without that, Atletico Madrid are done.
To think that before the Champions League quarter-final second leg with Bayern Munich last month, Ronaldo had scored 97 goals in the tournament. Now, two games later, he has scored 103.
Back to back hat-tricks, and against two of the finest teams in Europe. Ronaldo hasn't racked them up against lightweights, but against the first team to win the German title five years in succession, and a group coached by Diego Simeone whose name has become a by-word for defensive determination.
The Champions League is the finest club competition there has ever been, and Ronaldo has now reached a goals total of double figures in it in each of the last six seasons. This was his 42nd hat-trick for Real Madrid, and seven of them have been in UEFA's premier tournament.
We could fill pages with his numbers, books with superlatives lauding his talent. He already has his own museum. They could fill a room with his match balls. And another room with his, well, you know.
Imagine how closely he is guarded in every match, yet still he finds a way. Imagine how Simeone's defence was drilled and drilled, his players readied specifically for this encounter.
And yet there it is: Ronaldo 3 Atletico 0. Other Real players had chances, but only one looked like scoring. Funny that. When the ball flew in, you knew it was him.
He just looked more alive, more aware than any other player on the pitch. He just looked more present.
Atletico are a good team, but not a 4-0 win over Real Madrid team. If the second goal looked to have done for them, the third opened the door to oblivion.
At 1-0, Diego Simeone's players were still on familiar territory and hopeful of toughing it out at home next Wednesday. It was Ronaldo's second of the night that shifted them out of their comfort zone, his third that condemned them to the wilderness.
So let's go back to the start and the goal after ten minutes that seemed to typify this late phase of Ronaldo's career.
Truly, he is attempting one of the most interesting exit routes in the modern game. We have frequently seen forwards reinvented as midfield players, Glenn Hoddle went from number ten to play sweeper, Ruud Gullit dropped back to midfield and then into defence, too.
Usually, players retreat through the team as age creeps up on them. Ronaldo is a forward reinventing himself as another forward; a different forward; a centre-forward, in essence.
He no longer runs at defences as he used to. Instead, he lurks. He still has that phenomenal eye for goal, but instead of using it for the spectacular, taking people on from anywhere, scoring goals that burn into the memory, he poaches.
His movement, his reading of the game, his instinct, his courage, he puts it all to work in the service of his team. Look at the headers he scores now. He's always been good in the air. Fearless and strong, with a fantastic leap and admirable abandon. A man who spends so much time working on his sculpted image really should pay more attention to whether he gets his teeth knocked out, but Ronaldo never does.
All those years ago, playing for Manchester United, he scored a header in a Champions League win against Roma that remains one of the boldest many in the stadium will ever see. A split second out and he could have been left with a fine set of gums. Instead he sent the ball into the net with the force of one of his mighty free-kicks.
He didn't do that here, but he got his head in first to give Real Madrid a tenth minute lead, he outjumped Stefan Savic whose job it is to win headers for Atletico Madrid and, in doing so, he added to the 100 Champions League goals he took into this game. And what an achievement that is, by the way. He has now scored 13 times in Champions League semi-finals alone.
Considering the individual attention he receives from markers and defenders his is a talent bordering on escapology.
Now he no longer roams all over the pitch, how does Ronaldo find space in the most tightly guarded area, around the opposing goal? He just does.
This is not only about his ability, but his wit. He has one of the sharpest minds, the keenest sense of anticipation, the game has ever known. What a wonder he is.
Diego Simeone put a relative rookie up against him in his wide starting position, Lucas Hernandez, just 21, and he wasted no time in leaving Ronaldo on his backside two minutes in. Ronaldo responded by moving inside for the next attack, picking up a ball from Raphael Varane and firing it impatiently over. He was anxious to get started. He was determined to get Real's show on the road.
He didn't have to wait long. After ten minutes, Sergio Ramos planted an attempted cross into the turf, the ball reared up and was headed clear.
Casemiro recycled it sharply, and there was Ronaldo, above Savic, quickest to react, first to the ball, to head past Oblak into the net. Boom, 101.
Real dominated from there and should have been comfortable yet, with 73 minutes gone, Atletico still had a puncher's chance in the return. Ronaldo changed that.
Marcelo played in Karim Benzema on the edge of the area, who flicked it on to Ronaldo. Filipe Luis tried to steal it, but got rolled instead.
At that point the ball popped up invitingly and Ronaldo has never been one to turn down an invitation.
In it went from roughly 20 yards, Oblak with no chance. A brilliant strike, and totally deserved given Real's domination.
Even the third did not flatter them, Ronaldo fizzing it in from inside the penalty area, his new favourite position, from a Lucas Vazquez cross.
Atletico were done. So was Ronaldo. We will see him in Cardiff next month. He's easy enough to spot. Just look for a bloke in white, scoring the goals.
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