Cristiano Ronaldo rolled again the years with a late winner as Portugal rallied to beat Germany 2-1 on Wednesday, reserving a spot within the Nations League closing.
The 40-year-old netted his 137th worldwide aim, sealing Portugal’s first win over Germany since 2000 and sending them to their second Nations League closing after lifting the inaugural title in 2019.
Germany bossed the primary half however have been denied by an excellent exhibiting from goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who stored the rating stage earlier than Portugal’s second-half surge.
Spain and France meet Thursday within the different semifinal to find out who faces Portugal in Sunday’s closing.
The shot-stopper made a superb begin to the primary half, protecting out a low shot from Germany’s Leon Goretzka after 4 minutes with a powerful save.
Costa got here to Portugal’s rescue once more with an unbelievable save from Nick Woltemade’s close-range effort. Two minutes later, he produced one other fast response cease, diving low to tip away one other try from Goretzka.
Germany took the lead within the forty eighth minute, as Florian Wirtz headed in unmarked within the field following a pinpoint lobbed cross from Joshua Kimmich.
However, Portugal turned the match round – first equalizing via substitute Francisco Conceicao within the 63rd minute, earlier than Ronaldo tapped in 5 minutes later after Nuno Mendes teed him up.
For Conceicao, the win carried further significance, as his father, Sergio, scored a hat trick the final time Portugal beat Germany – on the European Championship in 2000.
“We need to enjoy the victory – we won for the first time in a while against Germany. Tactically we were exceptional and our commitment helped … it was a team victory,” Portugal coach Roberto Martinez stated.
“Now we can recover and evaluate,” he added. “We want another performance with personality in this shirt.”
Germany seemed to shift the momentum when substitute Karim Adeyemi unleashed a robust rising strike along with his left foot, solely to see it crash towards the surface of Costa’s right-hand publish.
Portugal may have grabbed a 3rd aim very late within the match, however Germany goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen stretched impressively to carry out a double save.
It was a disappointing a centesimal look for Germany captain Kimmich.
“The defeat is absolutely deserved. We weren’t playing well enough in the first half. After going 1-0 up, nothing came of it in the second half,” he advised reporters.
“We have to learn from this. If we’re not at 100%, we can’t beat a top European team. Today was one of our worst games, purely based on our performance.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com