With a much more positive performance, Portugal completed the second qualifying round for the 2024 European Championship without any problems, beating Luxembourg 6-0 in a match where Cristiano Ronaldo again scored twice and scored 122 goals as an international player. In just over half an hour, Roberto Martínez’s team solved an issue early on that was expected to be more complicated before reaching the half-dozen in the second half, taking over the isolated leadership of Group J, following Bosnia’s defeat in Slovakia.
After the national team played its last official game two years ago in the old Josy Barthel, this Monday, the brand new Stade de Luxembourg (with a capacity of almost ten thousand spectators and costing almost 80 million euros – almost 20 more than originally planned) welcomed finally the corner team, whose coach, unsurprisingly, opted for the 3x4x3 debut against Liechtenstein in the first round. The only changes promoted by Roberto Martínez for this game were in defence: Diogo Dalot, António Silva and Nuno Mendes were promoted to the starting line-up in the places of João Cancelo (who started on the bench), Gonçalo Inácio and Raphaël Guerreiro (the two names excluded from the match sheet). On the Luxembourg side, Luc Holz also made three changes from the team that had drawn a clean sheet in Slovakia, continuing a very positive phase of the Grand Duchy’s national team (full of Lusophone nicknames, as usual), which had only suffered defeat in the previous nine matches.
On a rainy evening, with the stands full (although tickets reached astronomical prices) and under the eyes of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, António Costa, the first sign of danger was given by the lions red. Vincent Thill left for Portuguese territory, countered with Sinani and took a shot, which eventually collided with Rúben Dias’ opponent (6′). It was thought that Portugal would go through some difficulties, but the truth is that the team started a high level first half and quickly settled the issue of points on the line – if it had ever been on the line. Two minutes later, the first goal came: a wide cross from Bruno Fernandes hit Nuno Mendes at the far post, after which the full-back headed for the central zone, where the inevitable Cristiano Ronaldo deflected towards goal. After 15 minutes the second came: another cross, this time from Bernardo Silva, with João Félix scoring effortlessly with a header. And at the age of 18, the third: João Palhinha’s long pass and Bernardo’s impeccable deflection with his head to the back of the net. Three shots, three goals, enormous effectiveness and total control over all game situations.
And could have been more
And, fourth… the 0-4, with only 31 minutes left on the clock. This time, the pass fell, at the right time, to Bruno Fernandes, who left CR7 in the face of Anthony Moris and he fatally did not forgive with his left foot (122nd goal in the national team, 11th for his favorite “victim”). The home team paid the price by believing it could complicate the life of its powerful opponent by allocating too much space in its defensive zone, which was mercilessly abused by the Portuguese.
Until the break, Danilo would still put the ball in the goal, but in an irregular position, and João Félix was close to the handful of goals, with a shot from outside the penalty area that went over the bar in stoppage time.
Dissatisfied with his team’s performance, Luc Holtz made three substitutions for the second half and the Red Lions immediately threatened to soften the defeat. Once again it was up to Thill, a former Nacional, to take the shot, after an individual shot, but Patrício, attentive, defended well. Naturally, the scoreboard’s unevenness led to a much less interesting second half for Martínez’s team, who took the opportunity to move up in the 63rd minute to take CR7 and Bernardo ahead of Gonçalo Ramos and Rúben Neves – who started to beat Palhinha. to accompany. Shortly after, Otávio and Rafael Leão came on, who would eventually build a result with a handful after an impressive run from Nuno Mendes that brought it all to the fore: the Rossoneri winger crossed for the Dragons midfielder to make a successful header (77′ ).
But there was more: a direct free kick from Rúben Neves hit the crossbar and Rafael Leão lost a self-won penalty kick – in the corner, Ramos prevented Rúben Dias from hitting the foot as well. And the Milanese would eventually redeem themselves from failing the 11 yards in an individual shot, closing the count in the 88th minute.
Source: DN
