In the final match of the Euro 2024 qualifying round, which took place on the evening of November 19, Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates defeated Iceland by a score of 2-0. These victories brought their overall record to ten wins. Advertisement: 0:14 Close Player
Fernandes scored in the 37th minute, and Horta scored in the 66th minute.
In spite of the fact that he started and played the entire match, Ronaldo did not score. It was because of this that the striker, who is 38 years old, was unable to win the title of top scorer in the qualifying round for Euro 2024. Romelu Lukaku, a striker from Belgium, holds this position. Lukaku scored four goals in the match against Azerbaijan, bringing his total to 14 goals, which is four more than Ronaldo’s total.
As is his custom, Ronaldo completed the game with the most points on the field, seven, which is four times more than the two players who finished in second and third place, Joao Felix and Bruno Fernandes. Notable among these is the striker who is currently playing in Saudi Arabia, who scored three goals. Ricardo Horta, a midfielder, received an assist from Ronaldo, which resulted in the score being 2-0. This was Ronaldo’s most specific contribution.
After Portugal’s midfielder sealed a 2-0 victory, Ronaldo expressed his happiness to Ricardo Horta. Horta contributed to Portugal’s victory. Captured by Imago.
Throughout the most of the play, one team was on the offensive while the other team was on defense. Portugal had a 74% possession of the ball, fired 23 shots, and 11 of them were on target, in contrast to Iceland, who only had 9 shots and 4 shots on target. Corner kicks were awarded to the home team fourteen times over the entirety of the encounter, while the visiting team did not receive any.
Nevertheless, Portugal is not an easy country to adjust to. The situation that was the most significant was the one in which the midfielder Otavio crossed the ball on the left wing, but the pass turned into a shot that hit the upper edge of the inside post.
In the latter moments of the first half, Bruno Fernandes had a brilliant performance that allowed the home team to take the lead and score the first goal. After receiving a pass from Bernardo Silva, the midfielder who was playing for Manchester United entered the penalty area and then shot diagonally to the ground, which was successful in beating the goalkeeper, Hakon Valdimarsson.
During the first few minutes of the second half, Ronaldo came dangerously near to have scored. The attacker, who is 38 years old, was able to beat the Icelandic defense during a pressure phase after receiving a cross from Joao Mario. However, his header hit Valdimarsson.
During the 66th minute, Ronaldo made an unsuccessful attempt to score after Valdimarsson was unable to cleanly catch Felix’s shot. In spite of this, he was the one who delivered the ball to Horta’s foot, so assisting the new midfielder in scoring the goal that doubled the score for Portugal.
During the game’s second half extra time, Iceland came close to scoring a goal back. In a head-to-head match, Orri Oskarsson was unable to prevail over Diogo Costa, the goalkeeper. After bouncing out of the net, the ball made its way to Arnor Ingvi Traustason in front of the penalty area, but it was blocked by a defender from the home team before hitting the crossbar.