PORTO – Cristiano Ronaldo hit a hat trick as Portugal withstood a huge moment of VAR
controversy to beat Switzerland
3-1 and reach the Nations League final on home soil in Porto.
Ronaldo’s free kick opened the scoring midway through the
first half, but the Swiss levelled when the referee overturned his decision to
award Portugal a penalty to give a spot-kick at the other end after a VAR
review, and Ricardo Rodriguez levelled.
The game seemed destined to head for extra time, but as ever
Ronaldo stepped up to be the hero with two expert finishes in the final two
minutes.
The hosts will now face England
or the Netherlands,
who meet on Thursday, in Sunday’s final.
Portugal
made it to the last four without their all-time record goal-scorer as Ronaldo
took a hiatus from international football to concentrate on his first season at
Juventus.
However, the five-time world player of the year returned to
the national team in March, and was always likely to be the centre of attention
on a day when it was reported a rape lawsuit against him had been dropped.
A lawyer for the American woman who claimed she was sexually
assaulted by Ronaldo – accusations he has strongly denied – later dismissed
that report, saying the lawsuit had not been dropped.
In Porto, Ronaldo pulled
his first big chance wide early on, but made the breakthrough on 25 minutes.
Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer was fooled by the wicked swerve
as Ronaldo’s free kick from the edge of the area flew into his bottom left-hand
corner.
The Portugal
captain is, though, no longer his country’s only star name, with Bernardo Silva
starring for Manchester
City, where he could soon
be joined by Joao Felix.
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— UEFA Nations League (@UEFAEURO)
City are reportedly set to pay Felix’s €120 million buyout
clause from Benfica, but the 19-year-old missed a glaring chance to mark his
international debut with a goal just before the break as he blasted over from
Ronaldo’s pass.
Switzerland
had posed a threat themselves in the first half with Xherdan Shaqiri, fresh
from winning the Champions League with Liverpool,
particularly lively.
However, it took the help of VAR to get them back in the
game in a moment of huge controversy just before the hour mark.
Portugal
thought they were the ones with the chance to extend their lead from the
penalty spot when referee Felix Brych pointed to the spot.
However, the German referee then reviewed a Swiss penalty
appeal he had waved away for a foul by Nelson Semedo on Steven Zuber and
overturned his initial decision.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/NationsLeague?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NationsLeaguefinal! 🎉🎉🎉
Thanks to a hat-trick from... Cristiano Ronaldo! ⚽️⚽️⚽️
— UEFA Nations League (@UEFAEURO)
Rodriguez drilled home the resultant spot-kick much to the
fury of the home supporters at the Estadio do Dragao.
The Swiss could then have gone in front when Benfica forward
Haris Seferovic headed just wide.
But Portugal’s
greater star power eventually shone through as Silva squared for Ronaldo to
drill home his second of the night.
Moments later, the hosts sealed their place in the final on
the counter-attack as Ronaldo curled into the far corner to take his tally of
international goals to 88.
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— UEFA Nations League (@UEFAEURO)