Roberto Martinez's Portugal continues its flawless performance, after finishing ten out of ten in the European Nations Cup qualifiers. The Seleção won easily on Thursday in Guimarães (5-2) in a friendly match against a very pale Swedish team, for the first time on the bench for the Dane John Dahl Thomasson.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix, Joao Cancelo and five other teammates (including Vitenha and Danilo), who were excused from this first match, were missing. Diogo Costa, the starting goalkeeper, was absent due to an injury early in the campaign. But on the field, the Seleção did not give the impression that it was missing anything. With the indestructible Pepe at the joint, Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes to marshal the game and Gonzalo Ramos up front, Portugal roamed all over the country, particularly thanks to the left-sided Nuno Mendes and Rafael Leao who broke it all apart in the first period.
Vitinha and Danilo Pereira could play in Slovenia on Tuesday
The former Lille player opened the scoring with a shot into the top corner (24th) after Bernardo Silva hit the post. Then another compatriot, Matthews Nunes, succeeded in quietly penetrating the Swedish defense (33rd), before his Mancunian neighbor Bruno Fernandes took advantage of a cross from Nelson Semedo to score the third goal before the end of the first half (45th).
The Red Devil turned into a passer for Rome (57), before Ramos also scored his small goal (63) just before his exit. Martinez was able to give his first minutes to Jota Silva, “Jack Grealish Guimarães”, who narrowly missed the sixth goal (86). Sweden saved its honor thanks to Victor Gjokeres (59), top scorer in the Portuguese championship with Sporting. Then he scored a wonderful goal through Gustav Nelson (90th minute).
In Slovenia on Tuesday, the Portuguese team should be very different, as another group of eight players must leave the group. Vitinha and Danilo Pereira could get playing time.
