Portugal 0-0 Spain (Friendly)
Portugal drew 0-0 with neighbours Spain in an interesting battle in Lisbon, with Portugal striking the woodwork twice.
In a match of two halves, Portugal struggled to see much of the ball in the first half, while they also showed a lack of intensity and pressing as they looked to contain the attacking threat of Spain.
It meant the visitors had the better opportunities in the opening period, with Rui Patricio forced into making several smart stops, while Portugal were limited in their attacking endeavour.
After three changes at half time though, Fernando Santos’ side looked much more comfortable on the ball and showed more intensity, and struck the crossbar on two separate occasions.
The first was through talisman Cristiano Ronaldo, who latched onto a cross frrom William Carvalho before seeing his effort bounce off the bar and onto the goal-line, while Ronaldo then set up the second, a delightful outside-of-the-foot pass to Renato Sanches creating a great goalscoring chance for Portugal, but the Lille midfielder also saw his thunderous strike come off the crossbar and bounce on the goalmouth.
Joao Felix then had a huge opportunity to win it right at the end, coming close to latching onto Ruben Semedo’s header across the face of the goal in second half stoppage time, but just couldn’t steer it home.
Portugal, after a strong and much improved display in the second half, had to settle for a draw, but will be pleased to have kept a clean sheet against a side that had scored so many goals over their last four games, and that they also looked so much more impressive in the second half when they introduced some more of their first-team regulars.
