Round of 16 fixed

Turkey v Portugal LIVE from 6pm

Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. celebrate a commanding three points.

(Bild: AFP)

2nd game, 2nd win - Portugal continue their success at Euro 2024! The number 6 team in the world of soccer performed much better than in the opener against the Czech Republic, beating Turkey 3:0 to reach the round of 16 and stay on course for their second European Championship title after 2016 ...

Seven wins and two defeats in nine encounters so far, the last "clean sheet" more than twelve years ago - despite these statistics, there was not much evidence of Portugal being genuine favorites against Turkey at Signal-Iduna-Park, the home of Borussia Dortmund. The Turks, whose Italian coach Vincenzo Montella played a 4-5-1 formation - without ex-Rapidler Mert Müldür - cleverly closed down the dangerous spaces for the Iberians, even if they did allow Ronaldo and Co. to play.

(Bild: AP/Associated Press)

(Bild: AFP)

First really dangerous action belongs to the Turks
After half-chances from "CR7" (2nd/goalkeeper Altay Bayındır had no problem saving) and Bruno Fernandes (4th/blocked shot from distance), the first really dangerous action belonged to the Turks, who were always looking for a direct route forward: After an Çelik cross from the right, Kerem Aktürkoğlu got to the ball in the penalty area in extremis a tick ahead of João Cancelo and should have scored - but the finish was too weak and inaccurate and could still be cleared into the goalmouth (7th).

The game then continued with wild back-and-forth action instead of bland ball-pushing, with the Portuguese having the advantage thanks to more possession and the 39-year-old, 138-day-old Cristiano Ronaldo clearly showing how much he wanted to become the oldest European Championship goalscorer of all time with a goal. While he lacked any fortune as a header "scorer" (8th) and header preparer (15th), he was at least able to celebrate the 1:0 for Portugal as a team-mate shortly afterwards.

Turk puts the game to bed early on
After preparatory work from Rafael Leão, Nuno Mendes crossed from the baseline to the middle of the six-yard box, where Cristiano Ronaldo missed the ball deflected by Orkun Kökçü, but Bernardo Silva struck left-footed from around 12 meters (21). And the Portuguese kept the pressure on, penning the now unsettled "Ay-Yıldızlılar" in their half of the pitch. Nevertheless, it was not a Seleção player, but a Turk who made the early difference in the match.

(Bild: AFP/AFP )

After an unsuccessful attempted high pass from João Cancelo to Cristiano Ronaldo, who had mentally turned to another page in the playbook of rehearsed actions. Defender Samet Akaydin wanted to pass the now orphaned ball back to his goalkeeper Bayındır, but overlooked the fact that he had come out of his box and positioned himself on the right - and it came as it had to: the back pass rolled past friend and foe into the Turkey goal, the rescue attempts of the goalkeeper and Zeki Çelik were too late (29').

Turkey make it into the break with decency
Coach Montella's men now faltered, but managed to go into the break in decent form: they missed two good chances to open the scoring out of nothing through a shot from Aktürkoğlu (31') and Kökcü (41'), but did not allow the 2016 European champions to create more than half-chances themselves, for example from Bruno Fernandes (35') or Cristiano Ronaldo (37').

Both team bosses made changes at the break, while Montella opted for more attacking power with Yusuf Yazici replacing Kökcü, Roberto Martínez only changed the two yellow card holders João Palhinha (for Rúben Neves) and Pedro Neto (for Rafael Leão) for the Portuguese side and adapted his formation from a 4-3-3 to a more cautious 4-4-1-1.

(Bild: AFP)

Bruno Fernandes puts the lid on it
The Portuguese side defended their 60:40 lead in the possession statistics consistently and ten minutes after the restart, the die was finally cast. After a vertical Vitinha pass and a fatal slip by Çelik, former star Cristiano Ronaldo ran into the Bayındır goal together with Bruno Fernandes and instead of scoring a historic goal himself, "CR7" unselfishly, somewhat surprisingly and completely contrary to the "greed for goals" he is said to have, laid it off to his team-mate - and the Man United star put the lid on Portugal's victory against Turkey (56')

On a "normal" day, it would have been pretty certain that they would not come back from a three-goal deficit against Portugal - but on this European Championship evening, the match was definitely decided. Team boss Montella at least gave the numerous fans in the stands something to cheer about by substituting young star Arda Güler (70th for Yunus Akgün).

(Bild: AP)

(Bild: AFP)

(Bild: AP)

"Streakers" take aim at Cristiano Ronaldo for selfies
Only four "streakers", who cheated their way past the stewards and all took selfies with Cristiano Ronaldo, added to the excitement as the game slowly wound down - find out more HERE! Portugal were closer to making it 4-0 in the final minutes than the Turks were to scoring the consolation goal, but Cristiano Ronaldo (66') and Bernardo Silva (88', 89') lacked the final touch. In the end, it didn't matter - with the 3:0 win, they still booked their place in the round of 16 ...

The result:
Turkey - Portugal 0:3 (0:2)
Dortmund, Signal-Iduna-Park, referee Zwayer (GER)

Goals: 0:1 (21') Bernardo Silva, 0:2 (28') Akaydin (own goal), 0:3 (56') Bruno Fernandes

Yellow cards: Bardakci, Akaydin, Celik and Leao, Palhinha respectively

Turkey: Bayindir - Celik, Bardakci, Akaydin (76. Demiral), Kadioglu - Calhanoglu, Ayhan (59. Yüksek) - Akgün (70. Güler), Kökcu (46. Yazici), Aktürgoglu (59. Yildiz) - Yilmaz
Portugal: Costa - Cancelo (68. Semedo), Dias, Pepe (83. A. Silva), Mendes - Vitinha (88. J. Neves), Palhinha (46. R. Neves), Fernandes - B. Silva, Ronaldo, Leao (46. Neto)