Portugal qualify for Euro 2020

Portugal have qualified for Euro 2020 after a tricky 0-2 victory over Luxembourg secured their passage into the continent’s biggest continental competition.

Battling it out against a motivated Luxembourg side on a poor quality playing surface, Portugal struggled to get into the game for large spells, failing to string together delicate passing moves like they did in their own backyard in the 6-0 triumph over Lithuania last Thursday.

With the ball travelling and bobbling unpedictably on the cut up pitch, it was the far more direct Luxembourg who looked most comfortable and had the best chances early on to take the lead, but their lack of clinical finishing proved costly.

Portugal' knew that only a win would guarantee themselves a chance to defend their European crown next summer, and heading into a match that most expected them to win somewhat convincingly, it looked to be in doubt for large spells, with Portugal having very few clear-cut chances in the difficult playing conditions.

There was therefore a huge sigh of relief when Bruno Fernandes finally broke the deadlock in the 40th minute, Bernardo Silva taking matters into his own hands by taking up a much deeper starting position and pinging a delightful ball over the top to Bruno Fernandes, who controlled excquisitely before blasting home. On the playing field, going direct seemed the only way to break the deadlock, and that’s exactly what it took.

But while that goal settled the nerves, it certainly didn’t guarantee victory for Portugal, with Luxembourg holding their own in the second half and having a handful of half-chances in their bid to upset the Portuguese party.

With Serbia leading in Ukraine, only a win would have done for Portugal, and with the match still very much in the balance heading into the final 5 minutes of the game, there were few nails left to bite back home in Portugal, the fact evading nobody that just one swift pass and one lucky bounce is all it would take for Luxembourg to peg Portugal back.

However, with four minutes left on the clock, Portugal wrapped up all three points, in as scrappy a manner as the playing surface meritted. The invariably busy Bernardo Silva whipped the ball into the box, Diogo Jota, who was making just his second appearance for the senior national team, then got his body onto the end of it and tried to scramble it over the line, before Cristiano Ronaldo swooped in to tap the ball home on the goal line. They all count, and that was number 99 for Cristiano Ronaldo for his country.

Somewhat humorously, the win for Portugal actually wasn’t a necessity after all, with Ukraine finding an equaliser against Serbia in the final minute of their clash in Belgrade, making Portugal’s group look far more comfortable than it actually was.

Nevertheless, Portugal are now guaranteed to be in the hat for Euro 2020 on the 30th November, 18:00 - and they will have the chance to defend the crown they won in Paris three years ago.

Portugal know that they won’t be in pot 1 for the group stage draw, and even pot 2 looks out of reach for the Selecao, needing The Netherlands to fail to beat Estonia, but Fernando Santos and his side will just be grateful that they are in the tournament at all and will be fearing no one heading into the finals next summer.