Portugal goes to play-off

Portugal will try in March to qualify for the World Cup because they could not defend the 1-0 achieved by Renato Sanches in the second minute. Those of Fernando Santos showed an improper weakness of such a template, being weak in defense and failures in attack. Serbia, meanwhile, recovered from Gudelj’s early error to overcome the great game that Da Luz experienced.

Fernando Santos, who could not count on Pepe due to suspension (he resorted to Fonte), knew that a draw served him to qualify, but during the week he got tired of repeating that he did not contemplate going out to speculate with the result. This winning mentality was demonstrated after two minutes of play, when Bernardo Silva was smarter than Gudelj, who fell asleep on the ball, and stole to assist Renato Sanches. However, from then on they only made merits to lose the match.

The two protagonists of the goal were the most active in the attack. While Jota left flashes, Cristiano Ronaldo despaired when, especially the scorer, preferred to finish the play and not look for him.

Half an hour into the game, Tadic, after a warning from Vlahovic, returned to equalize the game with a shot from outside the area that Danilo deflected, thus misleading Rui Patrício, who fulfilled his 100th game with the national team. Serbia woke up and Portugal could not find a way to extend its advantage again.

Portugal continued to carry the weight of the game, but the chances in the last minutes were from Serbia. Each hanging ball left Lisbon breathless and it was a center from Tadic, unstoppable throughout the game, which left Mitrovic alone in a Benjamin’s own mark error to make it 1-2. Stojkovic’s expedition jumped onto the grass to celebrate and would repeat it three minutes later, when Orsato whistled the end and Cristiano, looking at the horizon, shook his head.