Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal which gave his side Portugal the lead in their clash against German has broken a new record. The goal was the decider as they beat Germany 2-1 in the first semi-final of the 2024/2025 UEFA Nations League.
It was Ronaldo’s 137th goal for the Portuguese senior men’s national team. Also, the last time Portugal defeated Germany was a 3-0 win in their final group game in 2000. Going into the semi-final tie, Portugal had lost their last five matches with Germany.
Also, Portugal have now recorded four wins (five draws, 11 defeats) against the Germans. Th first half of the game was goalless as both sides had no goal. But the second half started well as Florian Wirtz opened the scoring for Germany three minutes in.
Francisco Conceicao, who came on in the 58th minute, made it 1-1 with a beautiful left-foot curler into the far corner. Then Cristiano Ronaldo made it 2-1 in the 68th minute of the game. The Portuguese skipper tapped home PSG’s Nuno Mendes’ low cross.
Meanwhile, the second semi-final will see European champions Spain take on France on Thursday. Founded in 2018, Portugal, France and Spain are the three countries who have won the UEFA Nations League title.
Portugal won the maiden edition in the 2018/2019 season after edging out The Netherlands 1-0 in the final. The French were crowned champions in the 2020/2021 campaign thanks to a 2-1 triumph over Spain.
Then the Spaniard won the final of the 2022/2023 season, a 5-4 penalty shootout win against Croatia after regulation and extra-time ended 0-0.
