Bernardo Silva’s first aim at a serious event, a calamitous personal aim from Samet Akaydin and a Bruno Fernandes tap-in gave Portugal a cushty 3-0 win over Türkiye on Saturday to ensure qualification for the final 16 as Group F winners.
Silva gave Portugal the lead within the twenty first minute, rifling residence after Nuno Mendes’ cross deflected kindly into his path earlier than Akaydin did not look and handed the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Altay Bayindir seven minutes later.
Fernandes successfully ended the competition after 56 minutes when Cristiano Ronaldo — who may have develop into the oldest goalscorer in European Championship historical past — selflessly handed to his former Manchester United teammate to faucet residence.
The victory secures Portugal’s progress whereas Türkiye should keep away from defeat on Wednesday to the Czech Republic, who drew 1-1 with Georgia earlier on Saturday, to make certain of qualifying for the knockout rounds.
Portugal began sharply and had been unfazed by the deafening whistles from Türkiye’s supporters when in possession, with Ronaldo drawing a simple save from Bayindir inside two minutes.
Türkiye — who had misplaced all three of their earlier European Championship video games towards Portugal with out scoring — typically performed out from the again and the gamble nearly paid off after 20 minutes, however Pepe’s last-man problem stopped Orkun Kokcu.
Portugal scored shortly after via a fast break down the left, when Mendes performed a harmful ball throughout aim which Silva turned residence for his first main event aim in his fifteenth sport at both the World Cup or European Championship.
A defensive mix-up doubled their lead when Bayindir wandered out of his aim to gather a misplaced cross in direction of Ronaldo, solely to observe Akaydin’s backpass roll previous him in sluggish movement.
Kerem Akturkoglu compelled an incredible save from Diogo Costa nearly instantly after, however Türkiye in any other case created valuable few probabilities.
The second half began in subdued vogue earlier than substitute Ruben Neves performed a protracted cross excessive, which fell to Ronaldo who laid the ball on a plate for Fernandes to attain.
The sport petered out even after Türkiye boss Vincenzo Montella launched teenage star Arda Guler however was marred by a number of pitch invaders within the final 20 minutes of the sport, all of whom made a beeline for a selfie with Ronaldo.
Source: www.anews.com.tr