Portugal defeated Turkey 3-0 in Dortmund on Saturday to take their spot in the round of 16 of the 2024 European Championship. Georgia had earlier landed a historic first point at a major tournament with a 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic.
The Portuguese team was led by Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the European Championship in 2016, is one of the top teams to win in Germany. They played up to their expectations, winning handily in front of a partial audience to take first position in Group F.
While the first of the match was ongoing, Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva scored the first goal when a low cross from Nuno Mendes was diverted in his path.
Then, in a surprising move, Portugal extended their lead just before the half-hour mark.
A not so strong pass by Joao Cancelo to Ronaldo was not a supposed threat to the Turkey defense, but Samet Akaydin’s effort to backpass rolled past goalkeeper Altay Bayindir’s reach and crossed the line in spite of Zeki Celik’s maximum efforts to clear.
Portugal scored their third goal early during the second half when Ronaldo found himself in on goal but out of selflessness squared for Bruno Fernandes to finish. Turkey never appeared to be able to get back on track.
Portugal has already beaten the Czechs to a 2-1, giving them six points from a possible six, and they will undoubtedly win the group even before they play Georgia on Wednesday in Gelsenkirchen.
They formally know that on July 1, they will play one of the top three finishers in a last-16 tie in Frankfurt.
“We are mainly very happy with the three points, with the qualification in first place, and it is just another step for being closer to our goal, a goal that is still very far away which is to try to win the cup” Silver said.
“We are first in the group and we can make changes in the next game which for me is very important as there are lots of players in the dressing room who deserve to play,” their coach also added.
Ronaldo, who is playing in his sixth Euros at the age of 39, would seemingly break the record for the oldest goal scorer in football history if he scores in Germany, but he was unable to add to his record-breaking 14 goals competition.
In the second half, quite a number of his fans invaded the pitch asking for a selfie witj the superstar forward, who is currently playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
He grinned and posed for a picture in the center circle, enjoying the attention, but the increasing number of the fans, got him clearly agitated.
Martinez said that it was an issue concern, considering how simple it was for so many spectators to enter the playing area.
“It is a concern because today we were lucky that the intentions of the fans were good.
“If those intentions are wrong then the players are exposed and we need to be careful with that.
“I don’t think that should happen on a football pitch.”
Slovakia is saved by Schick – Vincenzo Montella’s Turkey, who defeated Georgia 3-1 in their first match, will still make it from the group in second place if they win against the Czechs.
Earlier, in a thrilling match in Hamburg, Patrik Schick chested home to earn the Czechs a 1-1 draw against rival team Georgia; however, this result puts both sides in a difficult situation in the section.
Giorgi Mamardashvili, the goalkeeper for Georgia, had a number of impressive saves in order to keep his team in the match, and Georges Mikautadze’s penalty kick gave them the heads up shortly before halftime.
But at the ending of a fantastic match, Schick repeated his tactics as a goal scorer from Euro 2020 with an improvised finish to leave honors even.
Both teams miss the mark; Georgia earns their first historic point ever, but if they want to remain in the competition, both teams will both teams need win their next game.
“I am quite happy and satisfied just for being here… our first point is a historic moment.
We will have a very difficult match against Portugal, they are one of the best teams at the tournament but we will do our best, and we will see.
We don’t want to go home yet. We will fight until the very end against Turkey so we can get into the knockout rounds,” Czech’s coach said.
