Portugal’s European title hopes are still firmly in the balance after pulling out a 2-1 victory over Czechia.
At one stage it looked as though the youngest team by average age in the tournament were going to pull off a shock draw over the group favourites, especially after a later header from Liverpool’s Diogo Jota was swiftly ruled out by VAR.
But, manager Roberto Martínez’ late substitutions brought all three points to Selecão after his two 90th minute subs Pedro Neto and Francisco Conceição combined for the winner in stoppage time.
Here’s how both sets of players rated:
Portugal
Embed from Getty ImagesDiogo Costa – 6
Had little to do all game with Czechia registering only one shot on target. Unfortunately for Costa, that one shot turned into a goal, though there wasn’t too much he could have done to save that emphatic strike.
Pepe – 6
At 41-years-old, Pepe became the oldest player in the history of the European Championships, but he had little to do all evening, which led him to occasionally charge forward.
Rúben Dias – 6
Much like his centre-back partner, there was little for the Manchester City man to do.
Nuno Mendes – 7
Was progressive with his play right from the jump and confident in attack. His header back across goal forced the error from the Czechian defence which brought Portugal back level in the contest. One of the most impressive players on the outfield for the majority of the contest.
Diogo Dalot – 4
Struggled to get in the game too much, and wasn’t as influential as he was for large parts of the season, where he won Manchester United’s Players’ Player of the Year award.
Bruno Fernandes – 7
Looked to be the focal point of any balls going forward and was progressive in his play throughout.
Vitinha – 6
Relatively quiet game, but had a long range effort dip awkwardly in front of Stanek which was the highlight of his game.
João Cancelo – 6
Often looked to get forward in attack, especially in the second half where he spent most of the time in midfield.
Bernardo Silva – 7
Tried to be Portugal’s key creator from out wide, and while he was on the ball a lot, he made little of his opportunities.
Cristiano Ronaldo – 7
Before the deadlock was broken, the 39-year-old looked to be the most likely scorer, but he couldn’t find the target, hitting the post in the second half, though a glorious backheel through ball almost lead to what would have been the opening goal.
Rafael Leão – 5
Received a yellow card for a dive in the first half on the edge of the area, and never really got going. Came inches to getting on to a cross driven into the box but to no avail.
Substitutes
Gonçalo Inácio – 5
Had one charge through the midfield, but did little else in the 20 minutes with which he featured.
Diogo Jota – 7
Was very lively when he came on, and helped reignite the Selecão charge. Thought he had scored the winner, but VAR deemed Ronaldo marginally offside in the build up.
Pedro Neto – 6
Roberto Martinez masterclass? The Wolves’ midfielder’s run down the left and cross into the box somehow found Conceição – albeit after a slip from the Czechian defender – who was able to drive it home from close range.
Francisco Conceição – 8
SUPERSUB. On the field for all of two minutes on his competitive debut, and he was the recipient of the Pedro Neto cross into the box. Was he lucky the ball found its way to him? Yes – but a composed finish under pressure nonetheless.
Nélson Semedo – N/A
Czechia
Embed from Getty ImagesJindrich Stanek – 6
Admittedly didn’t have too much to do for much of the game, but his poor shot stop which rebounded off his defender forced the own goal from Robin Hranać and gave Portugal the slice of fortune they needed to grind out a result.
Tomás Holes – 7
Probably the standout in Czechia’s back line, made all the more impressive by the fact he arguably had the toughest defensive assignment.
Robin Hranác – 6
Was solid for much of the game, and there was nothing he could do about the own goal to his name. Wrong place, wrong time.
Ladislav Krejcí – 6
Was busy for much of the game with Portugal’s unwilling attack, but stood up to the task for the most part.
Vladimír Coufal – 7
The West Ham man struggled mightily in the first half, often having to deal with Portugal’s left-hand side by himself. But, he got the assist for the game’s opener which bumps his overall match rating up.
Lukáš Provod – 8
Scored with Czechia’s first shot on target, and third total shot. It was a beauty and automatically upped his ranking.
Tomás Soucek – 6
His standout play was when his crucial header prevented an almost certain goal for Ronaldo, but he wasn’t at his best, and looked very leggy by the end of the contest.
Pavel Sulc – 5
Just one of those nights where he was chasing the opposition around the pitch for the most part. He will surely be hoping he can get on the ball more in their remaining group games.
Jan Kuchta – 4
Was a non-factor for much of the contest and was probably relieved when his number went up on the substitution board at the hour mark.
David Doudera – 5
Not the only one to be a non-factor in the game, but one nonetheless. Hopefully will see more of the ball in Czechia’s next outing against Georgia.
Patrik Schick – 5
Maybe still got a hangover from his club’s historic season. His highlight was picking up the game’s first yellow card.
Substitutes
Ondrej Lingr – 5
Made little impact when coming on, but that can be expected with his team having only 26.4% of the possession.
Mojmír Chytil – 5
Similar to the above, Czechia struggled to get on the ball for the majority of the game.
Antonín Barák – N/A
Petr Sevcik – N/A
Follow reaction from Roberto Martínez and Group F’s other thriller between Türkiye and Georgia, and comprehensive coverage of EURO2024, here on FromTheSpot.