Horta’s comeback goal saves Portugal from a loss
A goal from Ricardo Horta in the second half saw Portugal level the scoreline
The match started exactly as was expected. Spain was playing a total possession game, not giving the ball up and holding the ball. On the other hand, Portugal was looking to exploit the lost balls and got into the counter whenever they got the chance.
Alvaro Morata opened the scoresheet in the 25th minute with a sleek and precise finish. Portugal had committed extra man in the counter-attack when they lost the ball in the middle of the park. Spain’s 17yr old Gavi delivered a full precision pass towards Ferran Torres who then passes back to Morata and he finishes off it in style.
Spain started to dominate possession and frustrated the Portuguese as they were not at all getting the ball. Joao Moutinho and Bernardo Silva also started to get heated up with Spain’s possession game and made silly tackles. They both got booked early in the first half.
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In the second half, Raphael Leao missed certain crucial opportunities to equalize. The new capocannoniere winner wasn’t at his best. At the hour mark, talisman Ronaldo and Goncalo Guedes stepped up onto the field. The game shifted the balance, and Portugal started to have some of the balls and started attacking for a goal. In the 82nd minute, they got the goal through Ricardo Horta.
Both the sets of fans enjoyed a live;y game, and good competition was seen on the pitch. Though Spain would have liked to bag all the 3 points, it would seem like a missed opportunity for them.
“We go into every game to win,” Spain defender Cesar Azpilicueta said. “If we’d won today we’d have gone to Prague to win, too. We always try to play the same way independent of the result. We keep growing as a team, now we have to recover and prepare for Sunday’s game.”
Alvaro Morata is looking to play his first world cup and will likely to beat Raul’s national squad record of 61 goals.
“I think we played a good game, we weren’t able to finish it off, but we faced a great national team with a lot of good players,” Morata said afterward. “We have to keep working, we have games ahead of us.”
“Football is like that. We had some chances, but we didn’t take them, and they equalized. We have to keep going and look forward.”
Portugal hasn’t been able to beat Spain on their home ground since 2004. Its very likewise to see the performances of these teams in the Nations League, as this may be a rehearsal before the Qatar World Cup later in this year.
