Cristiano Ronaldo breaks another scoring record as Portugal reach Nations League final.
GERMANY 1-2 PORTUGAL: Cristiano Ronaldo fired Roberto Martinez’s side into the final of the Nations League with a comeback win over hosts Germany at the Allianz Arena
Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal to a come-from-behind win over Germany to book their place in Sunday’s Nations League final. Florian Wirtz had put the hosts ahead with a brilliant header from Joshua Kimmich’s delicious chip three minutes into the second half. But a triple change from Roberto Martinez sparked Portugal into life.
It was one of those subs, Francisco Conceição, who put the visitors on level terms, driving forward before curling a fantastic effort past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and into the bottom corner. Just five minutes after that, Ronaldo scored what would prove to be the winner. Nuno Mendes burst through the Germany defence before squaring the ball for his captain, who was left with an empty net to tap into.
That goal saw Ronaldo break the record for the most goals in a single Nations League A campaign, with seven strikes—one more than previous joint-holders Romelu Lukaku and Ferran Torres managed in the 2021/2022 campaign. It is three less than Viktor Gyokeres managed in Nations League C this year.
Portugal reached their second Nations League final, having won the first edition in 2019. Spain and France will contest the other semi-final in Stuttgart on Thursday night.
It is the first time Portugal have beaten Germany in any competition for 25 years. Their second-half performance was hailed by former Manchester City star Andy Hinchcliffe, who told Prime Video: “The genius of this goal is its simplicity. It’s just pass and move football. What a response to going behind.”
He added, “It’s been a dominant performance from Portugal on and off the ball. The substitutions from Roberto Martinez changed the complexion of the game.”
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