Portugal still in cruise mode
Portugal finished off their successful Nations League group campaign with a 1-1 draw against Poland in Guimaraes on Tuesday, while Sweden earned promotion to the top division.
Hosts Portugal had already qualified for June’s inaugural Nations League finals alongside England, the Netherlands and Switzerland, while Poland could not avoid relegation.
Fernando Santos’ side finished three points clear of Italy at the top of Group A3, after an unbeaten campaign despite the absence of star forward and captain Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It’s always good to have Cristiano Ronaldo in the lineup, but we’ve proven that we have other quality players besides him,” said centre-back Pepe.
“The spirit of these players has been very positive. Now we have to be humble and respect the other teams in the final four and show our qualities.”
Renato Sanches started brightly for Portugal and saw an early effort blocked, and the 21year-old Bayern Munich midfielder created the opening goal as his 34th-minute corner was headed in at the near post by Andre Silva.
The European champions appeared to be in control, but the game changed when Danilo Pereira was harshly sent off and Poland were awarded a penalty.
The referee gave the Porto midfielder his marching orders after Arkadiusz Milik tumbled to the floor under his challenge, despite appearing to win the ball cleanly.
The Napoli striker picked himself up to slot the ball past Beto in the Portugal goal and level for the visitors with quarter of the match still remaining.
Poland have struggled since a disappointing World Cup group-stage exit, failing to win in the Nations League, and they wasted late chances, with Piotr Zielinski being denied by Beto and Damian Kadzior firing wide as the 10 men held on.
“I thought the double red card and penalty call was harsh, from my point of view it didn’t exist,” bemoaned Portugal coach Santos.
“The referee could whistle for a penalty and not give a red card. In spite of that I’m proud of the players.”
Elsewhere, Sweden pipped Russia to promotion to League A as a 2-0 victory over the 2018 World Cup hosts in Stockholm saw Janne Andersson’s men finish top of Group B2.
Aleksandar Mitrovic and Adem Llajic both scored for the second consecutive game as Serbia brushed aside Lithuania 4-1 in Belgrade.
That saw them promoted from Group C4 despite closest challengers Romania’s 1-0 win in Montenegro.