Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, winner of the double, secured its ticket to the 2024 European Championship by defeating Slovakia (3-2), achieving its seventh victory in the same number of qualifying matches, on Friday in Porto.
This new success allows the Seleção to expand the gap by eight points at the top of the Group J classification, which will allow it to finish at least second in the group because it can no longer be overtaken by Luxembourg, which was held in failure against Iceland (1-1) and is now trailing by a margin. 10 points.
The only downside for Portugal on this evening was that their goalkeeper, Diogo Costa, conceded the first goals of these qualifiers during a match that did not escape the control of the 2016 European champions.
The offense remains prolific
Under the heavy rain that fell on Friday evening at the Dragon Stadium, Paris Saint-Germain striker Gonzalo Ramos opened the scoring with a header, after an excellent serve from Bruno Fernandes (18, 1-0), then Ronaldo executed a penalty kick that was awarded after a handball. In the Slovak zone (29, 2-0).
If Goncalo Ramos scores his third goal in this qualifying campaign, the five-time Ballon d’Or player Cristiano Ronaldo remains in his own planet, with 7 goals confirming his status as the top scorer of his team, despite his 38 years of age and his golden exile with Real Madrid. Al Nassr FC .
The Portuguese national team dominated the first half and could have achieved a greater result even if the men of Spanish coach Roberto Martinez scored a total of 27 goals.
The seventh assist from Bruno Fernandes
Bruno Fernandes shot the Slovakian goalkeeper into the upper corner with a beautiful shot with his left hand, but Dubravka kept the ball away by extending it into the air (13th minute), and in the last minute he managed to keep out a header from the Portuguese No. 8 in the entire penalty area (26th minute).
Before he shot at the right post (43rd), Ramos also lost a duel to Dubravka (37th), and Bernardo Silva also lost (39th). Before the end of the first half, Cristiano Ronaldo returned a rebound pass over the crossbar (45+2).
At the other end of the field, the danger did not appear until Portuguese defender Antonio Silva cleared a Slovak cross ball and unintentionally tested the reactions of his goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who evaded an own goal by clearing the ball out of his goal (15).
The match stopped unilaterally in the second half, but Slovakia needed a little luck to reduce the score when David Hanko’s shot collided with Antonio Silva (69, 2-1).
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Cristiano Ronaldo tried to reassure his family by scoring without competition (72, 3-1) after a new pass from Bruno Fernandes, who has seven assists in the same number of matches.
Then Slovakia scored against Portugal again with a wonderful shot from Stanislav Lobotka (80th minute, 3-2).
Roberto Martinez (Portugal coach who won over Slovakia 3-2 speaks to the official Portuguese television RTP): “We won the match after a very good first half. What was important was the result. It was my dream to qualify first and then continue to improve. We showed a perfect approach in seven matches. I am very satisfied, but it is just a step. Cristiano Ronaldo is having a good time, he is playing a lot of football.” minutes and scores a lot of goals with his club. He has great experience in selection and is considered a reference for young players. »
