Portugal surrendered top spot in the UEFA Nations League after a 1-0 defeat in Switzerland. Haris Seferović opened the scoring in the first minute at Stade de Genève, the Seleção unable to find an equaliser despite creating the bulk of the opportunities.

Fernando Santos made seven changes to the side that beat Czech Republic and it showed, especially in the first half where fluency was often lacking.

The introduction of Gonçalo Guedes, Bernardo Silva and Diogo Jota in the second half improved their play, but Portugal were unable to create enough quality opportunities to beat Jonas Omlin.

Portugal ended their European U21 Championship qualifying campaign with a 2-1 win against Greece.

Paulo Bernardo and Gonçalo Ramos scored shortly after half-time at Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, the Greeks leaving it too late after Georgios Koutsias scored in added time.

The Equipa das Quinas end the campaign top of Group 4 with nine wins and a draw, 41 goals scored and three conceded.

What a difference a week makes! As a disjointed Portugal made heavy weather of World Cup qualifying, then were largely dominated by Spain in the Nations League opener, Fernando Santos’s team looked in anything but good shape as the countdown to the Qatar World Cup begins.

However, two impressive performances have sufficed to bring about a radical alteration in the mood surrounding the Seleção.

A combination of exciting attacking play, solid defence and above all a pleasing team cohesion – despite considerable rotation of personnel – has raised expectations about what this squad can achieve in the coming months. 

Portugal beat Czech Republic 2-0 in the UEFA Nations League thanks to two goals in the space of five first half minutes.

Bernardo Silva was the architect on both occasions, assisting João Cancelo in the 33rd minute and Gonçalo Guedes five minutes later.

The second half at Estádio José Alvalade was a tedious affair, the Seleção seeing the job through against a Czech Republic side that managed just one shot on target in Lisbon.