Portugal completed their compulsory task against Luxembourg in style, winning 5-0. CR7 was once again the centre of attention as he extended his own record.
The roles before the duel were of course clearly distributed, the 2016 European champions were the heavy favourites. And the Portuguese quickly lived up to this role. After a foul on Bernardo Silva on the edge of the penalty area, Ronaldo was awarded a penalty (8th minute). Only a few minutes later, CR7 was again allowed to score from the spot after he had been fouled by Luxembourg’s keeper Moris. His first attempt was on target, but he had to go again because some players had entered too early. Again, the ManUnited attacker scored, albeit with a bit of luck (13th). It was Ronaldo’s 113th and 114th goals for the national team, adding to his own world record.
The Portuguese kept their foot on the gas even after the early brace, which was rewarded by Bruno Fernandes’ 3:0 (17th). After that, the visitors, who had been overtaxed until then, managed to get some calm into the game. It remained 3:0 at the break, which was also due to the fact that the visitors’ keeper Moris prevented Ronaldo’s treble (43.).
Moris prevents Ronaldo dream goal – Palhina scores
After the break the home side started extremely strong again and pressed for the fourth goal. After Ruben Dias (48th) and Ronaldo (49th) had missed good chances, the Faro crowd got to see a real treat: Ronaldo put the ball in front of himself and scored with a bicycle kick – Moris prevented CR7’s dream goal (68th). However, the keeper cut an unfortunate figure from the ensuing corner when Palhinha nodded it over him (69th).
115th goal for Ronaldo
The final goal of the evening belonged, how could it be otherwise, to Ronaldo: The goal machine nodded in a Neves cross from half field for the 5-0 final score and thus scored his 115th international goal (87th). Portugal did their homework, but remain in second place in Group A as Serbia beat Azerbaijan 3-1 to retain first place. However, the Portuguese have one game less on their account.
Portugal’s next match will be in Ireland on 11 November, while Luxembourg will play in Azerbaijan at the same time.
