Portugal squanders a 0-2 and ends up drawing controversy

Controversial draw of Portugal against Serbia. The result should have been different if the referee had conceded a ghost goal from Cristiano on the last play. The ball had clearly crossed the line before Mitrovic punched. The truth is that Portugal still cannot find its identity. Those of Fernando Santos squandered a 0-2 in a decent first part to end up tying in a horrible second half. Fernando Santos returned to line up Bruno Fernandes, after having given him rest against Azerbaijan and the team was another at the start.

Bernardo SIlva and Bruno Fernandes himself seized the right wing from the beginning and for this demarcation the best visiting occasions arrived. There was little to wait for the scoreboard to open, after a good combination on the right wing between Cristiano and Bernardo SIlva. The latter centered it with the right rope so that Diogo Jota will head to the meshes in the 11th minute.

Curiously, after the goal came the best minutes for Serbia, but they did not turn them into clear occasions. Vlahovic and Lazovic tried but with shots with little danger. And precisely when the Serbs were better, the second came from Portugal, with a play traced to that of the first goal: same band and same play, although this time the center was from Cedric Soares, in another successful and accurate shot by Diogo Jota.

After the break, Serbia came out with changes of players and attitude and they only needed a minute to close the gap: center of Radonjic (had just entered) from the right and Mitrovic goes ahead of Danilo to, with his head, make it 1-2. The goal emboldened Serbia who in a matter of minutes had two more clear chances to put the equalizer through Tadic and Milinkovic-Savic. And the third was the charm. Kostic put the equalizer after a book against led by the midfielder himself and Radonjic, that the assistance of this goal was also noted. The work of the entire first part of Portugal, demolished in 15 minutes.

The party then entered a tug of war of both teams that looked more to save their income than to go out in search of the winning goal. In the added time, everything happened that had not happened in the previous half hour. First Milenkovic saw the direct red for an ugly tackle on Danilo and on the last play of the party Cristiano scored a phantom goal before a bad start by Dmitrovic. The Portuguese was outraged that he had not been awarded the goal, which in fact had completely passed the goal line before Mitrovic cleared. Mitrovic, a hero, since after his first rejection he again cleared another shot from Bernardo Silva. With this draw, Portugal and Serbia continue to lead the group with four points.