Portugal progress to the round of 16 at Euro 2020 after epic night of football
Portugal are through to the knockout stages of Euro 2020 after a sensational night of footballing exploits saw Fernando Santos’ side draw 2-2 with France and progress to the round of 16 as the very best 3rd-place team of the entire group stage.
It was a tumultuous night of football with twists and turns constantly throwing a spanner in the works - and having some scrambling for the calculator. Portugal were residing in 1st place in the group for a significant length of time on the night - but soon after, found themselves in 4th and on the brink of elimination, such was the way the group was beautifully poised to set up a spectacular showdown.
Portugal knew that a draw would see them progress to the round of 16, and even knew that a loss by as many as three goals would be acceptable to qualify as long as Hungary failed to beat Germany - though Hungary, to their credit, made Portuguese football fans sweat, and thrilled neutrals with their display against Germany, beating the 2014 world champions for the vast majority of their final day clash.
However, Portugal managed to get the job done without having to worry about the other match, earning an impressive point against the reigning World Cup winners, putting in an equally impessive performance after the humbling defeat against Germany in their last outing.
Santos opted to make a couple of changes to his lineup, bringing Renato Sanches and Joao Moutinho into the starting XI to add more control to the midfield, and it proved highly effective, Moutinho and Sanches pulling the strings in the middle of the park to ensure Portugal looked confident and composed throughout the match, and were largely the better team across 90 minutes.
Portugal took the lead through Cristiano Ronaldo from the penalty spot after Hugo Lloris clattered into Danilo Pereira - but the lead was eroded just before the break after the referee awarded France a highly controversial penalty after a coming together between Nelson Semedo and Mbappe. With Hungary leading in Munich at the time, Portugal’s Euro 2020 campaign was in the balance.
And things went from bad to worse for Portugal when France took the lead just after the break, Benzema running through and powering an effort in off the post. It appeared as though the goal would not stand - though VAR proved that he was onside and overturned the decision. In that moment, Portugal were heading out, and were hoping that Germany would do them a favour in the other match in the group to save Portugal’s campaign.
However, Portugal were able to sort out the situation themselves, an historic third penalty being awarded in a European Championship match after a France handball. Ronaldo stepped up again and converted emphatically to equal the all-time men’s international goalscoring record and level the match, sending Portugal through in the process.
Portugal had to survive a couple of scares though, and had Rui Patricio to thank for an exceptional double save that indicated exactly why he has been Portugal’s undisputed number one for so many years.
The result means that Portugal will play Belgium in the next round of the competition, having just a four day break before taking on Roberto Martinez’s side.
