Bernardo Silva et Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal a 2-0 half-time lead in Warsaw in Group A1. Piotr Zielinski reduced Poland’s lead late in the second half, before an own goal from Jan Bednarek ended any last hopes of a comeback.
“We worked very hard over the last few days, preparing various solutions for this match, and we were able to materialize it on the pitch,” said Roberto Martinez, Portugal coach. “I am very satisfied because we controlled this match“.
Portugal took the lead in the 26th minute. Ruben Neves sent the ball into the area where Bruno Fernandes cushioned it for Silva, who made his 96th cap, to score with a volley. With Poland relying on the counter-attack, Portugal were rewarded for their domination with a second goal ten minutes later. Rafael Leao rushed towards the area and unleashed a powerful shot which crashed against the post. Ronaldo was the quickest to react and found the net on the rebound, scoring his 134th international goal. It was also the 39-year-old’s third goal in three Nations League matches this season, following victories against Croatia and Scotland.
As Portugal appeared to be in control, Martinez brought Ronaldo and Leao off just after the hour mark to replace them with Diogo Jota and Francisco Trincao. Poland gave the Portuguese a cold sweat when Zielinski reduced the score in the 78th minute. The Inter Milan midfielder played a nice one-two with substitute Kacper Urbanski before beating Diogo Silva. However, Portugal restored their two-goal lead when Bednarek scored an own goal in the 88th minute from a Nuno Mendes cross.
“We played against one of the best teams in the world, which has great players“, said Zielinski. “But we gave them too much freedom, especially in the first half.” Portugal face Scotland on Tuesday in Glasgow, looking for a fourth victory in four matches in this competition, while that Poland will host Croatia.
Portugal collected the maximum points (nine) in Group A1, three more than Croatia who beat Scotland 2-1 to hand their opponents a third consecutive defeat in the group. Ryan Christie’s early goal gave Scotland the lead in Zagreb, but Igor Matanovic equalized before the break and Andrej Kramaric scored the winner midway through the second half. Che Adams thought he had equalized in injury time, but VAR disallowed his attempt for offside. Scotland have not won in nine competitive matches, the longest run in their history.
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