Portuguese Football in English
Portugal made it two straight wins at the U21 European Championship group stage with a 2-0 victory against England. Dany Mota finished a fast break in the 64th minute with Trincão converting a penalty ten minutes later.
Rui Jorge’s side are in pole position to qualify for the knockout rounds after a convincing display at Stadion Stožice in Ljubljana. PortuGOAL’s Matthew Marshall breaks down the contest and looks forward with one match to play.
Serbia 2-2 Portugal
Portugal have missed the chance the go three points clear at the top of their 2022 World Cup qualifying group after late officiating drama at the Rajko Mitic Stadium, this Saturday, denied Cristiano Ronaldo and co. from going beyond a 2-2 draw away to Serbia.
Portugal will be one of favourites at the upcoming Euro. If you think the holders will retain their trophy, take advantage of the Coral bookmaker on bets-promo-code.co.uk and try your luck by betting on the Seleção this summer.
The Seleção das Quinas were in rampant form in Belgrade after racing to a two-goal lead in the first half, secured by a couple of Diogo Jota headers. Portugal's hard work was quickly undone, however, as Aleksandar Mitrovic and Filip Kostic cancelled out the advantage garnered by Fernando Santos' men on his 1,000th game as a manager.
With the scores locked at 2-2, following a late red card for Serbia's Nikola Milenkovic, Ronaldo saw a 93rd minute goal, without goal-line technology to save him, go unnoticed after seeing his effort hooked away in a rush by Stefan Mitrovic and convincing the officials of a legitimate clearance prior to full-time.
Portugal began their U21 European Championship group stage campaign with a 1-0 win against Croatia at Bonifika Stadium in Koper. Fábio Vieira came off the bench to score the winner that puts the Esperanças in a great position to qualify for the knockout rounds.
Rui Jorge’s side were their worst enemies at times and there is plenty to improve on with two matches remaining. PortuGOAL’s Matthew Marshall breaks down the match.
Portugal got their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory against Azerbaijan in Italy. It was a game to forget at an empty Allianz Stadium in Turin, the Seleção dominating from start to finish but failing to create many clear cut chances and going ahead through a comical own goal.
The match was notable for Nuno Mendes and João Palhinha making their senior international debuts. Domingos Duarte and Pedro Neto both started in their second international appearances and André Silva made his first competitive start for Portugal since November 2019.
Portugal travel to Slovenia this afternoon as preparations for the U21 European Championships come to a close. Rui Jorge’s side will have their final training session at Cidade do Futebol before flying to Ljubljana.
The 2021 edition of the tournament will be played in two parts in Hungary and Slovenia. The first is the group stages (24th to 31st March) followed by the knockout rounds (31 May to 6th June).
Portugal have been drawn in Group D alongside Croatia, England and Switzerland. They have to finish in the top two to guarantee a spot in the knockout stage.
PortuGOAL's Matthew Marshall has everything you need to know as the Esperanças aim to win the tournament for the first time.
