Spain gives away lead, Portugal profits despite unlucky Ronaldo

Portugal did excellent business in the Nations League on Saturday. Cristiano Ronaldo’s team simply won a visit to the Czech Republic (0-4) and took over the lead in the group from Spain, which lost at home to Switzerland (1-2).

Portugal and Spain will fight next Tuesday in a mutual duel from which country can play the final round of the Nations League.

Spain, which took office with six FC Barcelona players, showed against Switzerland that there is still a lot of work to be done before the World Cup in two months. The Spaniards often had the ball, but the shifting rarely led to a chance.

Switzerland was a lot more effective. Manuel Akanji was able to cash in on the Swiss’ first chance. The defender of Manchester City headed the ball well to the ground from a corner and passed goalkeeper Unai Simón.

After the break, Spain looked fresher and Jordi Alba was able to ram in the equalizer after a beautiful attack over several plates. The team of national coach Luis Enrique could not enjoy the goal for a long time, because Breel Embolo fumbled in the 1-2 not much later.

Switzerland thus gave the Spaniards the first home defeat in 23 matches.

Portugal had a hard time with the stiff Czechs in the first part, but after half an hour Diogo Dalot broke the spell. The Manchester United right-back mounted the attack himself and was able to score his first international goal after a good return from Rafael Leão.

Shortly before that, Cristiano Ronaldo had collided with Tomáš Vaclík. The goalkeeper tried to knock the ball away, but then hit Ronaldo hard in the face. The Portuguese superstar then fell to the ground bleeding, but was able to continue not much later with a bandage on his nose.

Bruno Fernandes doubled the score in the extra time of the first half. After an excellent pass from Mário Rui, the midfielder was able to walk in the ball.

No problem for Portugal, but the Czech Republic had the perfect opportunity to come back into the game a minute after Bruno Fernandes’ goal. The unfortunate Ronaldo got the ball on his hand after a corner from the Czechs and the ball went on the spot.

Patrik Schick, who scored a world goal at the European Championship by shooting the ball from 45 meters, was unable to score from eleven meters. He chased the ball high.

It eventually became Dalot’s match, after the 0-1 he also took care of the 0-3. On the edge of the sixteen-meter area, he moored and skilfully shot the ball in. Diogo Jota took care of the final chord ten minutes before time: 0-4.