Just hours ago, Portugal, without Cristiano Ronaldo, defeated his favorite opponents for the UEFA Euro qualifiers. Roberto Martinez’s side managed to keep up their winning streak following a win in this month’s opening game against Slovakia. Their emphatic 9-0 win garnered responses from the soccer fraternity, including a special four-word message by Ronaldo, who sadly had to leave the team early, to his national teammates.
The match didn’t see Ronaldo in action, as he was forced to leave the camp quite early and return to his domestic side, Al Nassr. But the former Euro champs managed to pull off a quite astonishing victory against a European side.
Cristiano Ronaldo sends a four-word message to his national teammates
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Ronaldo was forced to miss the match as he served his suspension due to a yellow card he received during Portugal’s 1-0 victory over Slovakia last Friday. The referee penalized the Portuguese skipper for a tough tackle on the Slovakian goalkeeper, Martin Dubravka. This may have stopped him from missing today’s match against his favorite opponent Luxembourg, but it didn’t deter his teammates from delivering a stellar performance.
Portugal’s historic 9-0 victory over Luxembourg is their largest-ever win. While fans celebrate this emphatic win, Ronaldo took to Instagram to send a four-word message to his beloved teammates. The Al Nassr star posted a picture of his teammates and wrote, “Boa sorte Equipa! Vamos!!” As translated by DeepL, it means “Good luck Team! Vamos!!”
It seems the 38-year-old is impressed with his teammate’s performance in a much-enthralling victory. Certainly, he would have loved to be part of such a resounding win. Because, Luxembourg is one of Ronaldo’s favorite opponents, as he has a notable record of scoring 11 goals in 8 matches against them. Nevertheless, the team seems to have their skipper’s acknowledgment for the win. Speaking of, how did they manage to clinch the victory with such a margin? Let’s dive deeper.
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Portugal defeats Luxembourg 9-0!
It was quite a historic win for Portugal without their star player Ronaldo. First-half braces from Sporting CP star Goncalo Inacio and PSG forward Goncalo Ramos were enough to hand over a 4-0 lead in the very first half. Minutes after the second half, Diogo Jota opened his account and just ten minutes later Ricardo Horta made the score 6-0.
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Again after 10 minutes, Jota scored his second. Six minutes later, after giving three assists, Bruno Fernandes finally broke his deadlock with a neat finish. Five minutes later, substitute Joao Felix also got his name on the scoresheet, thus making it 9-0. Indeed, it was quite a decisive victory for A Seleção das Quinas. The win surely sends a message to other apex European nations that Portugal is ready to boss the 2024 Euros.