Portugal Without Pity
Eternal Cristiano Ronaldo.
Thanks to a brace from their historic captain, Portugal won 6-0 against Luxembourg.
Because yes, the Seleção has wandered!
After playing last Thursday against Liechtenstein (4-0), Roberto Martinez's men did the job.
The Lusitanian offensive armada was unleashed and allowed the Seleçao to quickly lead thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo (9th & 31st), Joao Felix (15th) and Bernardo SIlva (18th).
The rearguard of the Grand Duchy was pierced on crosses and the first three achievements came in this way.
Joao Palhinha was omnipresent in midfield and Nuno Mendes was very enterprising on his left side.
In the second act, the Portuguese just managed and CR7 came out on the hour mark. Roberto Martinez then brought in Ruben Neves, Rafael Leão and Otavio.
The three players quickly distinguished themselves with respectively an assist for the first, a goal (88th) and an assist for the second and a goal for the last (77th).
The Milanese also distinguished himself by obtaining and missing a penalty (86th).
Portugal, which had not won its first two qualifying matches (Euros and World Cup combined) since 1996, is starting its journey in the best possible way.
The Euro is already not very far away.
Italy at the end of boredom
If the Squadra Azzurra won quietly against Malta 0-2, they were scared from the start. Launched in depth between the Italian central hinge, Alexander Satariano presented himself against Gianluigi Donnarumma.
His full axis attempt was slammed for a corner by the Parisian goalkeeper (5th).
The Maltese striker can be terribly proud of it because he had much better things to do on this opportunity and the match could have taken a completely different turn.
Because then, Italy flew away thanks to goals from Mateo Retegui, with a header from a corner (15th) and Matteo Pessina, on the lookout for a cross from Emerson (28th).
The second half was poor in pace and Italy just managed their advantage.
A generally disappointing performance from Roberto Mancini's men.
Finland and Slovakia provide
At the same time, Slovakia and Finland won.
In a balanced encounter between Northern Irish and Finns, it was the visitors who emerged victorious.
In the first act, Finland was more realistic.
Benjamin Kallman, the KS Krakow striker opened the scoring (28th) and scored the only goal of the game.
In Bratislava, Slovakia caught up with their disappointing draw against Luxembourg (0-0).
Not attacked after a free kick combination, Robert Mak opened the scoring from 20 meters with a low right shot (13').
Lukas Haraslin doubled the lead before the break.
The Sparta Prague player pulled away in the middle before sneaking into the Bosnian defense and concluding from the right at the entrance to the area.
Nothing will then have been marked in the second act.
Bosnia therefore sinks after its victory against Iceland (3-0) last Thursday.
