Portugal defeated Liechtenstein 2-0 in a relatively simple but mediocre victory.
About the Game
Romelu Lukaku of Belgium and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal shared the goal scoring lead for the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign on Thursday as Portugal defeated Liechtenstein 2-0 in Group J play.
Portugal leads their group with 27 points, eight ahead of Slovakia in second place, and can already look forward to playing in the finals. With no points from nine games, Liechtenstein is at the bottom.`
Players of Portugal
Portugal’s victory over Liechtenstein had to wait until the second half. They produced a great deal of opportunities, but they never appeared explosive. After the interval, two swift goals by Joao Cancelo and Cristiano Ronaldo—the latter scoring his 128th international goal—snatched the victory.
As Liechtenstein’s keeper Buchel charged towards the right flank, breaking his line, Cancelo dinked the ball into an open goal. Cancelo easily beat Buchel to the ball and scored his 10th goal for Portugal.
Prior to that, Cristiano Ronaldo finished the play into the net with a strong strike after Diogo Jota played a fantastic through ball into his path. Ronaldo is now tied for the most goals scored in the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign after scoring his 128th goal for his country.
Late in the second half, Goncalo Ramos came close to adding a third goal, but his bundled effort was disallowed by VAR following a protracted investigation for both handball as well as offside.
Salanovic received a fantastic through pass on the left side, and with no defender in close range, he had a great chance to make it 2-1, but unfortunately for the minnows, Jose Sa did a fantastic job of overcrowding him.
How it overall went
With two goals in the second half, Portugal is still on a winning streak. However, full credit to Liechtenstein for fighting valiantly against a top team such as the Selecao. The home team had more opportunities and performed better offensively, but two fast goals after the half took the game away from them.
