Match report: Portugal 3-1 Switzerland
Daniel Taylor, our chief football correspondent, was at the Estadio Do Drago to see Cristiano Ronaldo secure his country’s berth in the inaugural Uefa Nations League final with his 53rd career hat-trick.
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Meanwhile in the Porto fan zone ...
Sean Ingle was on hand to see travelling England fans disgrace themselves again, incurring the well-earned, occasionally violent wrath of the local constabulary in the process. Read on ...
VAR: It may have ended up as little more than a consolation, but the manner in which Switzerland scored their goal will be a talking point in the wake of tonight’s game. Here’s how it unfolded ...
- Steven Zuber claims a penalty after a coming together with Portugal’s Nelson Semedo. Referee Felix Brych doesn’t see it as penalty and waves play on.
- Portugal sweep up the field and Bernardo Silva is fouled in the Switzerland penalty area by Fabian Schar. Brych awards a penalty.
- The VAR official let’s Brych know he needs to have a look at the original incident and he does so on his pitchside monitor.
- Noticing the Semedo clip on the heels of Zuber he reverses his decision and awards Switzerland the penalty from which they score.
CR7 It’s been some night for Cristiano Ronaldo, who had a fairly quiet night by his own high standards, but will still leave the Estadio do Dragao with the match-ball after scoring yet another hat-trick. His clinical finishing was the difference between the two sides and Switzerland will rue the fact that, by contrast, they had to make do with Haris Seferovic up front. The striker got himself in decent goalscoring positions on a number of occasions and could have put this game beyond Portugal in the first half with less wayward finishing.
Full-time: Portugal 3-1 Switzerland
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeep!!! It’s all over. Portugal are through to the final of the inaugural Uefa Nations League, courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 53rd career hat-trick for club and country. They’ll play England or the Netherlands in the Estadio do Drago on Sunday night.
90+5 min: Switzerland plug on gamely, but they know the jig is up. They win a corner, from which nothing comes. Kevin Mbabu sends a cross into the Portugal penalty area, but it’s headed clear.
90+3 min: Back to Ronaldo’s third goal. Portugal embarked up the field on a counter-attack after Xhaka lost the ball in midfield. With a couple of team-mates to his right, Ronaldo chose to ignore them and, with Manuel Akanji standing off him, curled a perfectly placed, utterly unstoppable shot past Yann Sommer from just inside the penalty area.
Portugal substitution: Joao Moutinho on for Bruno Fernandes. Switzerland substitution: Josip Drmic on for Remo Freuler.
GOAL! Portugal 3-1 Switzerland (Ronaldo 89)
Hat-trick! With his team attacking on the counter, the Portugal captain takes on a defender, sizes up the task in hand, makes a half-yard for a shot and curls a shot from just inside the Switzerland penalty area inside the upright and into the bottom right-hand corner.
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89 min: Bernardo Silva provided the assist, crossing low from the right. Cristiano Ronaldo swept the ball into the bottom right-hand corner from a tight angle with his first touch.
GOAL! Portugal 2-1 Switzerland (Ronaldo 88)
Portugal take the lead, with Ronaldo bagging his second of the night in what has been - as ridiculous as this sounds - a fairly lacklustre performance.
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86 min: For Portugal, Semedo gets a vital touch on a Mbabu cross from the right that was heading for Steffen at the far post.
84 min: Xherdan Shaqiri is penalised for a foul on Goncalo Guedes. Schar tries his luck from distance, firing high and wide.
83 min: Switzerland substitution: Steven Zuber makes way for Wolfsburg winger Renato Steffen.
80 min: The game enters its final 10 minutes, unless nobody scores in which case we’ll have extra time and possibly penalties. There will, presumably, be a few minutes of added time to make up for the time lost as referee Felix Brych consulted his pitch-side monitor before awarding Switzerland the controversial penalty from which they scored their equaliser.
78 min: Raphael Guerreiro curls a cross into the Swiss penalty area, where Manuel Akanji clears with an agricultural hoof up the field.
77 min: Portugal enjoy a lengthy spell of possession, which comes to an abrupt end when Bernardo Silva loses the ball high up the field.
74 min: For Switzerland, Remo Freuler shoots hopelessly high and wide from distance.
72 min: Ruben Neves shoots well wide with an opportunistic drive from distance. Portugal substitution: Joao Felix off after a quiet debut, Goncalo Guedes on. Switzerland substitution: Denis Zakaria is replaced by Edimilson Fernandes.
69 min: Fabian Schar is booked for a late challenge on Joao Felix. The needle-factor in this match has definitely upped a couple of notches since that VAR decision. While referee Felix Brych was well within his rights to review the “foul” on Steven Zuber in the Portugal penalty area, there will be those who say he got his decision wrong. If he hadn’t decided to give Switzerland that penalty, would he have then consulted VAR for the decision he originally gave at the other end?
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66 min: Granit Xhaka is booked for getting a little too up close and personal with Bernardo Silva, holding him back with an arm over each shoulder.
65 min: More excellent play from Shaqiri who sends a cross fizzing towards Seferovic at the far post. Not for the first time this evening, the striker shakes off his marker, but fails to hit the target with his header. If Switzerland had a decent striker they’d be about four goals ahead tonight.
62 min: Bruno Fernandes takes a corner and Ruben Dias gets his head to it at the back post. Granit Xhaka clears for Switzerland. There follows a break in play for medical treatment for Pepe, who appears to have hurt his arm or shoulder. He is helped from the pitch holding his right arm like somebody who has broken their collar-bone and is replaced by Jose Fonte.
59 min: To say the largely Portuguese crowd in the Estadio Do Dragao are unhappy with the events as they just unfolded would be quite the understatement. They’re whistling and jeering German referee Felix Brych, who appears to have made the correct decision in a very difficult situation with the aid of VAR.
He adjudged Semedo to have clipped the heels of Steven Zuber in the penalty area as the Swiss midfielder attempted to get on the end of an exquisite delivery from Xherdan Shaqiri.
GOAL! Portugal 1-1 Switzerland (Rodriguez 57pen)
Rui Patricio guesses correctly, but is unable to keep out Ricardo Rodriguez’s penalty. He beats the ground in frustration as the Swiss defender celebrates a controversial equaliser with his team-mates.
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PENALTY FOR SWITZERLAND!!!
Scenes in Porto! The referee has reversed his original decision to give Portugal a penalty and awarded one to Switzerland instead.
THE STUFF OF VAR NIGHTMARES! Having awarded a penalty to Portugal, the referee, Felix Brych, is now at the touchline studying his monitor to see what happened in the Portugal penalty area moments previously, where Semedo appeared to foul Zuber.
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PENALTY FOR PORTUGAL!
Steven Zuber appeals for a penalty at one end after being shoved in the back. Portugal sweep down the other end of the field and are awarded a penalty of their own when Schar trips Bernardo Silva in the Swiss penalty area. Sort that one out, VAR.
50 min: End to end stuff in Porto. This time Bernardo Silva tees up Cristiano Ronaldo, who is off balance when shooting from outside the Swiss penalty area and sends his effort well wide of the left upright.
49 min: A good move from Switzerland, which comes to naught when Seferovic is only able to head a cross from the right from Zakaria up in the air. Rui Patricio collects the ball with a minimum of fuss.
48 min: Pepe heads the ball out for a corner at the near post, putting it out of play from a Steven Zuber cross from the left. Ronaldo gets his head to the subsequent corner, before Guerreiro finishes the clean-up.
47 min: Moments later, it’s Ricardo Rodriguez who is called upon to do some defending. The Swiss is on hand to take the ball off Cristiano Ronaldo and clear his lines.
46 min: Shaqiri finds the ball in a good position on the right side of the Portugal penalty area, but is dispossessed by Raphael Guerreiro, who ambles a few strides down the pitch before booting the ball forward.
Second half: Portugal 1-0 Switzerland
46 min: Switzerland get the ball rolling for the second half, a goal down and in need of a centre-forward who can hit the target. There are no changes in personnel on either side.
Half-time: Portugal 1-0 Switzerland
Portugal lead at the break. A Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick is the difference between the sides as they march in for their half-time refreshments. They’re in the box-seat to qualify for Sunday’s Nations League final, but Switzerland have plenty to be positive about on the evidence of that first half. Xherdan Shaqiri has been a constant menace, while striker Haris Seferovic has missed one sitter and gone close on a couple of other occasions.
45 min: Nineteen! He’s 19! Not 9.
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44 min: Joao Felix ghosts in behind Ricardo Rodriguez to get on the end of a curled through-ball from Ronaldo and hook the ball over the bar under pressure from the defender. He was outmuscled there, which is not entirely surprising as he’s only 9 and looks like a gust of wind would blow him over.
41 min: As they have so many times tonight, Shaqiri and Mbabu combine down the right to get in behind the Portugal left-back Raphael Guerreiro and fashion a cross for Seferovic. The striker is forced to dig the ball out from under his feet before unleashing a shot that hits the cross-bar and goes over.
40 min: Bernardo Silva tries to pick out Ronaldo in the Switzerland penalty area with a looping cross from the inside left, but it’s cleared.
Elsewhere in Porto ...
Our chief sports reporter Sean Ingle is lucky enough to be in the company of some “boisterous” travelling England fans.
Kicking off at Fan Zone after England fans throw bottles at police and police respond by charging at England fans ... police cheered on by locals pic.twitter.com/yTGnqAiB3d
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) June 5, 2019
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36 min: Ronaldo twists the blood of Mbabu on the left touchline, dumping the right-back on his backside twice in quick in succession with some nifty footwork and earning a couple of loud cheers from the crowd for his troubles.
35 min: Shaqiri has been a busy boy tonight and gets on the ball again, before helping the ball on its way back into the Portugal penalty area in the direction of Seferovic again. Pepe clears up for the hosts.
32 min: Bruno Fernandes picks up the ball on the right flank for Portugal and wastes no time in trying to pick out Joao Felix with a cross. He overcooks his delivery.
31 min: Switzerland win a free-kick about 25 yards from the Portugal goal, a little right of centre. Xherdan Shaqiri tries his luck, but his effort hits the defensive wall and Portugal clear the two corners that follow.
29 min: Rui Patricio gets marooned on the edge of his own penalty area after a mix-up with his defenders but Xherdan Shaqiri tries to take the ball around the goalkeeper rather than shoot first time. The Swiss have to settle for a corner, from which nothing comes.
26 min: While Ronaldo was fouled on the edge of the Swiss box (although Mbabu will claim with some justification he got the ball as well as the man), he took the free-kick from several yards further back. Yann Sommer’s wall placement was questionable, to say the least and the Swiss goalkeeper also looked to be wrong-footed when Ronaldo sent the ball fizzing past him into the bottom right-hand corner from 25 yards.
GOAL! Portugal 1-0 Switzerland (Ronaldo 25)
Portugal lead! Kevin Mbabu is penalised for a foul on Ronaldo right on the edge of the Swiss penalty area. Ronaldo picks himself off the ground and scores with the free-kick.
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23 min: Portugal right-back Nelson Semedo sends a cross into the Switzerland penalty area from the right touchline, aiming for Cristiano Ronaldo, the only Portugal player in it. He’s unable to pick out his man.
22 min: Carvalho tries to pick out Joao Felix with a high ball towards the edge of the Swiss penalty area from midfield. Fabian Schar wins the ball and clears.
19 min: Switzerland attack down the right flank and the ball is played to Shaqiri about five metres outside the Portugal penalty area, a little right of centre. He sends a shot fizzing high and wide of the target.
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17 min: It’s been a lively enough start, which Switzerland dominated in the early stages, but Portugal have since come into the game. Seferovic, who plays his club football with Benfica, gets ahead of Pepe to get his head to a cross from Mbabu, but sends his weak downward effort straight at Rui Patricio from about 10 metres out.
15 min: Another mistake from Akanji leads to a Portugal corner. And then another, when Kevin babu puts the ball out of play with an unconvincing attempt at a clearance. The ball’s curled into the Switzerland penalty area, where Pep heads a difficult chance high and wide.
13 min: Haris Seferovic fails to make contact with the ball as he tried to get on the end of a beautiful;ly whipped cross from the right by Xherdan Shaqiri. If he\’d made contact, he’d almost certainly have scored. The ball came perilously close to creeping in at the far post regardless.
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10 min: Your minute-by-minute reporter experiences minor technological problems as he kicks the plug of his computer out of it’s socket, swears loudly and has to wait for it to reboot. While that was happening, Bernardo Silva shot narrowly wide after a hideously misplaced pass from Manuel Akanji. A let-off for the Swiss.
7 min: Cristiano Ronaldo wins a corner for Portugal, from which nothing comes.
4 min: A good start by the Swiss, who go close again. Denis Zakaria squares the ball across the face of the Portugal goal after making a lung-bursting run up the right flank, only for striker Haris Serferovic to shank the ball over the ball from close range.
2 min: There was some speculation over whether the Swiss would line up with a back three or four and they appear to have gone for the former. Shaqiri sends a cross into the Portugal penalty area, Pepe makes a hash of his clearance and the ball breaks to Shaqiri, now on the left side of the penalty area. He attempts to lift it over Rui Patricio from the edge of the six-yard box, but fails to get enough height on the ball to clear the goalkeeper.
Portugal v Switzerland is go ...
1 min: After a perfectly observed minute’s silence for the late Lennart, Portugal get the ball rolling. Their players wear red shirts, red shorts and green socks. The Swiss are kitted out in white shirts, shorts and socks. There’s a minor early scare for the Swiss as Joao Felix chases down a back-pass to goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who makes a bit of a mess of his clearance, but gets away with it.
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Not long now: Cristiano Ronaldo and Granit Xhaka lead their teams out on to the Esradio Do Dragao sward, where giant flags of each country are being held alongside one featuring the tournament logo. It’s time for the national anthems,after which there’ll be a minute’s silence for former Uefa president, Lennart Johansson, who passed away on Tuesday aged 89.
Virgil van Dijk warns Spurs players of lasting let-down from final defeat. @domfifield https://t.co/rt6cJUXfpu #LFC #THFC
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) June 5, 2019
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There’s a metaphor in here somewhere dept: England fans in Praga da Ribiera have spent the past 15 minutes trying - unsuccessfully - to kick a ball through the 2nd floor open window of the pub they’re drinking outside. This attempt gone a bit Waddle v W Germany ... pic.twitter.com/MRgFoUwUmr
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) June 5, 2019
Portugal v Switzerland line-ups
Portugal: Rui Patricio, Semedo, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Guerreiro, Carvalho, Neves, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Ronaldo, Joao Felix.
Switzerland: Sommer, Mbabu, Rodriguez, Schar, Akanji, Zakaria, Xhaka, Freuler, Steven Zuber, Shaqiri, Seferovic.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
Some team news: Joao Felix starts for Portugal. The 19-year-old Benfica striker, who scored 18 goals last season, will make his debut for his country tonight.
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Vladimir Petkovic speaks
“To play for your national team is an honour,” said Switzerland’s coach during his pre-match media briefing. “To play against top teams is an opportunity to improve and gain experience. It’s a good opportunity to win the tournament.”
Asked about tonight’s opponents and how his own players would approach them, he was honest in his appraisal. “We’ve seen that Portugal don’t concede many goals,” he said. “They’re tough to break down. We need to focus on what we can do to beat them.
“We’re not going to do anything differently in terms of preparation. We need to be ready for them. We’ve analysed their strengths and weaknesses. It’s not all about Felix, Silva or Ronaldo.”
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Fernando Santos speaks
The main talking point surrounding the Portuguese camp in the build-up to this game has been the call-up of Benfica striker Joao Felix, who is a target for several Premier League clubs this summer. So persistent was the line of questioning over whether or not the 19-year-old will start tonight, that Fernando Santos became visibly exasperated at his pre-match press conference.
“He’s been called up for a reason,” said the Portugal boss. “We need to call up players who can contribute, he has great qualities, he has been showing it at club level and he’s one of 23 players who are here on merit. And if he’s here it’s because he’s ready to play and contribute. Everyone is training well, they’re really up for the game and we’re not thinking further ahead than tomorrow.”
Asked about what kind of game he was expecting against Portugal, Santos didn’t beat around the bush. “It will be a very hard match, with two teams that like to hold onto the ball, that like possession,” he said. “Switzerland also like to play long balls, utilising the characteristics of players like [Haris] Seferović; then there’s [Xherdan] Shaqiri, who likes to hold the ball up. They are full of quality players. Our job is to think about ourselves … and to impose our game. The Portuguese national team, playing at home, want to bring joy to their fans.”
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Nations League semi-final: Portugal v Switzerland
Porto’s Estadio Do Drago is the venue, where European Champions Portugal are hosting Switzerland for a place in the final of the inaugural Nations League. Scheduled for Sunday night, it will pit the winners of tonight’s game against whoever emerges victorious between England and the Netherlands in Guimaraes tomorrow night. The losers will contest a third-place play-off on Sunday afternoon. Kick-off this evening is at 7.45pm (BST), but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
