Joao Félix and Joao Cancelo scored in the Portuguese win against Bosnia
Cristiano Ronaldo, with two goals, opened the visitors’ account
He took his steamroller to the Balkans this Monday and, with a devastating display in the first half, beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-5, which guarantees him first place in his group, after having already reserved their place in the German Football Euro Cup 2024.
What was expected to be a very tough matchup, in a hostile environment, against a team still trying to qualify, was anything but.
With complete peace of mind, Portugal has secured first place in Group J and its coach, the Spanish Roberto Martínez, continues his successful journey with the “quinas”.
After the fastest qualification and the biggest win (9-0 against Luxembourg), The Catalan coach accumulated eight consecutive victories with the Portuguese team, the best streak in Portuguese history.
In the run-up to the match, Martínez said that he did not want to “change for the sake of changing” and, although with qualification assured, he appeared in Zenica, about 70 kilometers from the capital, Sarajevo, with some tweaks, but without giving up its most lethal gunpowder.
Against a timid and unrecognizable Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cristiano Ronaldo was in charge of inaugurating the Portuguese gale, first with a penalty in the 5th minute of the match.
The impassivity of the Balkans began to be noticed after the goal, allowing Portugal to exchange the ball peacefully, with hardly any opposition and, at 21′Cristiano scored his second goal.
Excellent work from central defender Gonçalo Inácio, one of the new additions to the eleven, when he served a deep pass to the Barça player João Félix, who assisted Cristiano, who scored the ball to score his double.
There was no room for a new “SIU”, since it was immediately signaled offsidebut, after a period of waiting, the VAR ended up validating the Portuguese star’s goal.
Just four minutes later, Portugal increased its tally even more. Once again, it was Inácio, Sporting’s young centre-back, who found Bruno Fernandes with a wide pass.
At the same time, The Manchester United midfielder shot with his left foot into the back of the net.
A powerful shot by João Cancelo to the right corner of the goal marked the fourth of the night. Fernandes tried hard to cross near the baseline, but Cristiano missed his shot, which was however taken advantage of by the Barça full-back.
His teammate at the Camp Nou, João Félix, marked the fifthagain after a premature offside that was validated by the VAR.
Near half-time, the team coached by Serbian Savo Milosevic, former Real Zaragoza and Osasuna player, dared to approach the Portuguese field, but without disturbing Diogo Costa.
In the second half, Roberto Martínez’s men did not take their foot off the acceleratorsince they never actually stepped on it, but they did slow down slightly, although they continued to pass the ball without difficulty against a somewhat more defensively organized Bosnia.
The Balkans even had a good chance to score, with a pass from Pjanic that found Dzeko isolated in the middle of the Portuguese centre-backs. but without enough speed to surprise Costa.
Little to highlight in the second half, in which Bosnia begged for the final whistle and Portugal tried to control.
The Portuguese They added their eighth victory in eight games in this qualifying phase, with 32 goals for and only two against.
Bosnia-Herzegovina, for its part, falls to fourth place in the group and moves further and further away from Germany.