Portugal has cemented their place in next year’s European Championship set to be held in Germany after defeating Slovakia by three goals to two at the Estadio Do Dragao, extending their form to seven straight European Championship qualifying victories.
The Portuguese were able to triumph courtesy of a brace from five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo and a goal from Goncalo Ramos to ensure that they will be taking part in the prestigious European tournament next summer.
In the early moments of the game, Portugal took the game to Slovakia but against the run of play, it was the Slovaks who almost scored the opener when Antonio Silva almost deflected the ball into his net, forcing Diogo Costa to make a save to keep the game goalless.
The hosts went ahead in the 18th minute as Goncalo Ramos’s header from Bruno Fernandes’ cross to beat Martin Dubravka. Bruno was also denied by the Slovak goalie minutes later.
Portugal doubled their lead in the 29th minute via a calmly dispatched penalty by Cristiano Ronaldo to extend his international goal tally to 124 goals, after Dennis Vavro was adjudged to have handled the ball in the 18-yard box.
Slovakia piled the pressure on the hosts in the second half and were rewarded with a goal through a deflection from David Hancko’s distant effort, which found the bottom corner of the net to keep the visitors in the game.
However, this did not deter Portugal as they soon restored their two-goal lead just three minutes later when Cristiano Ronaldo tapped into an empty net from a Bruno Fernandes’ low cross.
With barely 10 minutes of normal time left to play, the Slovaks pulled one back as Stanislav Lobotka found the back of the net. However, it proved to be nothing more than a consolation as Portugal stood their ground to claim all three points.
Portugal has now won all their European qualification matches and is currently unbeaten since the World Cup loss to Morocco back in 2022.
Slovakia on the other hand have just tasted their first away defeat of this European Championship qualification round and are currently second in Group J, two points ahead of Luxembourg with three games left to play.
