Portugal started their participation at the Euro 2016 against the debutants Iceland. The match was held in Saint-Etienne’s stadium and finished with a 1-1 draw. Cristiano Ronaldo played his match №127 with the national team colours. So, the star of Real Madrid has the same number of games for Portugal, just like the legend Luis Figo has. Ronaldo is very likely to overtake him in the next match of the Euro 2016, but this hardly will make him happy after the fiasco against Iceland. Ronaldo had a great desire to score, but failed to find the net, even though he had several great goal-scoring opportunities.
Surprisingly, the first goal-scoring chance was for Iceland in the 3rd minute, but Rui Patricio saved Sigurdsson’s two consecutive shots on target. However, shortly after this early opportunity for Iceland, Portugal took the control of the match and organized some really good attacks, but Nani and Ronaldo couldn’t find Halldorsson’s net. Cristiano Ronaldo had the best chances to score, but he disappointed with his performance. The forward was left on clear position after a superb pass by Pepe, but Ronaldo couldn’t hit the ball.
To continue with, Nani finally scored the first goal of the game in the 31st minute after a great pass by Andre Gomes.
The Icelanders shocked Portugal just 5 minutes after the break. The goal-scorer was Birkir Bjarnason, who was perfectly positioned in the box. He equalized with a strike from the air, after a great pass by his teammate Johann Gudmundsson.
In the 57th minute Ronaldo once again missed a chance for goal after a shot from a distance. Logically, the Portuguese pressed deeply their opponents, but had hardly passed through the thickened Icelandic defence and therefore were trying to score from a long distance. After 62 minutes Nani missed another good opportunity after Vieirinha’s cross in the box.
Just 10 minutes later, Luis Nani took a free kick, but the ball flew above the crossbar. Last minute, filled with tension and the two doors. Five minutes before the final whistle, Cristiano Ronaldo had a golden opportunity to bring the victory to Portugal after a cross from Nani, but the forward’s header was tipped by Halldorsson, who showed brilliant performance for Iceland. Eventually the pressure of the Portuguese in the final minutes gave no result and Iceland came to their first point at the European championships. So Hungary, who won against Austria 2-0, left in the first place of the standings.
That was the first really surprising result in the Euro 2016. So, if you want to avoid such matches visit the experts. Click on the link for more details.
The stats:
Portugal – Iceland 1: 1
1: 0 – Nani (31’)
1: 1 – Bjarnason (50’)
Portugal: Rui Patricio Vieirinha, Ricardo Carvalho, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro, Joao Mario, Danilo, Andre Gomes, Joao Moutinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Nani.
Iceland: Halldorsson, Saevarsson, R. Sigurdsson, Arnason, Skulason, Gunnarsson, G. Sigurdsson, Gudmundsson, Bjarnason, Sigtorsson, Bjodvarsson.
