One of the big favorites escape with a win at the death
Barcelona’s João Cancelo started and played 89 minutes as Portugal found a way to win their Group F opener over Czechia in Leipzig in dramatic fashion on Tuesday to end a very exciting first round of Euro 2024 group stage action.
Francisco Conceição wins it late for Portugal #EURO2024 | #PORCZE pic.twitter.com/YbM4fAfT0J
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 18, 2024
The theme of the game was Portugal’s inability to turn their superior possession into clear-cut chances, with Roberto Martínez naming a strange starting XI that included Cancelo in an inverted left wing-back role in a 3-4-3 formation that had a lot of the ball but did almost nothing to truly trouble the Czech defense.
Czechia stayed organized at the back and had some good moments in attack, and at the hour mark got a reward for their solid performance when Lukas Provod fired a beautiful strike from outside the box to give the Czechs the lead.
Portugal answered almost immediately and got a lucky break when a header by Nuno Mendes was deflected by goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek onto the leg of defender Robin Hranac and into the net to make it all square with 20 minutes to go.
The Portuguese finally started playing better football after the equalizer with more attacking players on the pitch, including a couple of substitutions that changed Cancelo to a more traditional right wing-back role, and they almost took the lead through Diogo Jota but the goal was disallowed for a narrow offside on Cristiano Ronaldo.
But there was still time for a late twist, thanks to an amazing run by substitute Pedro Neto and a first Portugal goal by another substitute in Francisco Conceição in the 92nd minute to give his nation the lead at the death.
The final whistle came to end a crazy game on a rainy night in Leipzig, with Portugal winning but left with more questions than answers after their opener. There is still time for Martínez to find his best team, however, and the group looks easy enough to continue getting results while they try to get better.
Source - www.barcablaugranes.com