Just before Portugal took the lead, a speedster with a rainbow flag stormed the pitch
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A young man makes his grand entrance in Portugal’s win against Uruguay. The speedster storms onto the lawn and spreads several political messages at the same time. Afterwards, Portugal’s Ruben Neves worries about the well-being of the striker.
LFor a long time, the preliminary round match of the World Cup between Portugal and Uruguay just languished. But early in the second half, a murmur went through Lusail Stadium. A speedster stormed the lawn and spread several messages (51st minute).
The young man wore a blue T-shirt with a Superman sign and the slogan “Save Ukraine” on the front. The back said “Respect for Iranian Women”. The man may have specifically chosen this game because the referee is from Iran, where the regime has been trying to suppress a massive protest movement for weeks. The speedster also waved a rainbow flag during his sprint across the square, where he was being followed by several security forces.
After a few moments the spectacle was over again, the stewards stopped the man. Referee Alireza Faghani from Iran picked up the flag and took it off the field. It is still unclear whether and what punishment the man faces. Homosexuality is forbidden in the World Cup host country Qatar and is punishable by up to seven years in prison. In the course of the tournament, the security of the LGBT community in Qatar will therefore be discussed worldwide. “I hope nothing happens to the boy, we all got his message, the whole world!” said Portugal’s Ruben Neves after the game.
The rainbow is the symbol for the LGBTQI* community. LGBT is the English abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. The variants LGBTQ, LGBTQI or LGBTQIA+ are also often used. Each letter represents one’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
Fernandes scores for Portugal
With the start of the second round of the group stage, it was determined that supporters who show their support for the LGBTQ+ community with shirts, bandages and similar symbols will no longer be bothered by security personnel. According to dpa information, Fifa had previously asked the Qatari authorities and the World Cup organizing committee to allow rainbow colors in the stadiums. Previously, there were several cases where fans or journalists complained that they were asked to take off clothes with rainbow colors.
In the end, Portugal won 2-0 (0-0) and, after two wins from two games, is early in the round of 16. Uruguay, on the other hand, have only one point so far in Qatar and have to worry about a place in the knockout stages. Shortly after the racer’s appearance, Bruno Fernandes gave the Iberians a 1-0 lead with an unfortunate cross (54′). At first Ronaldo cheered and let himself be celebrated, but he didn’t touch the cross in the middle. The offensive player, who was later replaced, failed to equalize Portugal’s World Cup goal record of nine goals by Eusebio, at least for the time being.
The goal put a damper on the South Americans’ delicate offensive efforts after the break. It wasn’t until the 75th minute that Uruguay created a real scoring opportunity in the person of Maximiliano Gomez. He just hit the post. At the other end, Fernandes made everything clear with his second goal in added time. He safely converted a questionable hand penalty, José Gimenez wanted to support himself with a sliding tackle on the lawn and had the ball in his hand when it fell. Fernandes almost scored a hat-trick shortly afterwards. Only the post prevented that just before the final whistle.
“We did it and we are very happy. Now we have to win again, then we’ll be first,” said double goalscorer Fernandes, who didn’t want any special praise: “We’re a tight team, that’s the important thing. We stand together.” Portugal head coach Fernando Santos added: “We won and fulfilled the plan I made. We did well and now we will keep working.”