Portugal ease into knockouts

Bernardo SILVA’S first goal at a major tournament, a calamitous own goal from Samet Akaydin and a Bruno Fernandes tap-in gave Portugal a comfortable 3-0 win over Turkey yesterday to guarantee qualification for the last 16 as Group F winners.

Silva gave Portugal the lead in the 21st minute, rifling home after Nuno Mendes’ cross deflected kindly into his path before Akaydin failed to look and passed the ball beyond onrushing goalkeeper Altay Bayindir seven minutes later.

Fernandes effectively ended the contest after 56 minutes when Cristiano Ronaldo — who could have become the oldest goalscorer in European Championship history — selflessly passed to his former Manchester United teammate to tap home.

The victory secures Portugal’s progress, while Turkey must avoid defeat on Wednesday to the Czech Republic, who drew 1-1 with Georgia earlier yesterday, to be certain of qualifying for the knockout rounds.

Portugal started sharply and were unfazed by the deafening whistles from Turkey’s supporters when in possession, with Ronaldo drawing an easy save from Bayindir inside two minutes.

Turkey — who had lost all three of their previous European Championship games against Portugal without scoring — often played out from the back and the gamble almost paid off after 20 minutes, but Pepe’s last-man challenge stopped Orkun Kokcu.

Portugal scored shortly after through a quick break down the left, when Mendes played a dangerous ball across goal which Silva turned home for his first major tournament goal in his 15th game at either the World Cup or European Championship.

A defensive mix-up doubled their lead when Bayindir wandered out of his goal to collect a misplaced pass towards Ronaldo, only to watch Akaydin’s backpass roll past him in slow motion.

Kerem Akturkoglu forced a great save from Diogo Costa almost immediately after, but Turkey otherwise created precious few chances.

The second half started in subdued fashion before substitute Ruben Neves played a long pass over the top, which fell to Ronaldo, who laid the ball on a plate for Fernandes to score.

The game petered out even after Turkey boss Vincenzo Montella introduced teenage star Arda Guler but was marred by several pitch invaders in the last 20 minutes of the game, all of whom made a beeline for a selfie with Ronaldo.

Meanwhile, tournament debutants Georgia are still in with a shout of making the knockout stages of Euro 2024, but that task would have been much easier if substitute Saba Lobjanidze had taken a golden stoppage-time opportunity in their 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic earlier in the day.

The Georgians, who are the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, gained their first point at the Euros, but it could so easily have been three.

Their final attack in second-half stoppage time finished with Lobjanidze blazing over with the goal at his mercy.

“He (Lobjanidze) was the one who wanted to score most of all, but it didn’t work out well,” Georgia goalkeeper and man-of- the-match Giorgi Mamardashvili said.

Georgia’s players and coaching staff ran to console Lobjanidze at the final whistle, and Mamardashvili urged him to go and score in their final group game against Portugal instead.

“From above everything seems easier, but it is very difficult to perform in those situations because you have less time than it seems from the stands, so whatever he did, he did it right, but he didn’t score.

“He’s a great football player and he will definitely score a goal in the next matches . . . he should be proud because we earned our first point versus the Czech Republic,” he said.

Georgia coach Willy Sagnol also wanted the players to focus on the positives.

“I think the players were a little bit disappointed because of the massive opportunity, but I hope they will quickly get the fact that they got their first ever point in a major tournament,” Sagnol told reporters.

Against Portugal, we will play with ambition, the ambition of doing something well, the ambition maybe getting a reward at the end but, of course, we know it’s going to be difficult,” he said. — Reuters