Portugal also qualified early for the quarter-finals of the Nations League thanks to a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo. The team around the superstar beat Poland 5-1 (0-0) in Porto on Friday evening after a significant increase in performance in the second half and also secured group victory before the final game in Croatia.
Rafael Leao (59th), Ronaldo with a hand penalty (72nd) and a spectacular side kick (87th) as well as Bruno Fernandes (80th) and Pedro Neto (83rd) shot the Portuguese to victory. Record scorer Ronaldo, who was only awarded the “Quinas de Platino”, one of the highest sporting recognitions in Portugal, on Tuesday, scored goals 134 and 135 in his 217th international match – the 39-year-old now has a total of 910 career goals. For the Poles, for whom Dominik Marczuk scored (89th), star striker Robert Lewandowski from FC Barcelona was missing due to lumbar problems.
The Portuguese’s sportingly irrelevant duel against Croatia in Split is on Monday (8.45 p.m./DAZN). Croatia is also in the quarter-finals as second. At the same time, Poland will face Scotland, who are tied on points. The match is still about third place, the Scots have to win the game.
