Cristiano Ronaldo was unable to net as Portugal picked up a narrow 1-0 win over Azerbaijan, in a game that was played at Juventus’ Allianz Stadium on Wednesday.
The game was set for Turin to get around restrictions of Premier League clubs due to COVID-19, but Cristiano would have hoped to score and close the seven-goal gap separating himself and Ali Daei as international football’s highest ever goalscorer.
Without Pepe and Rui Patricio, Portugal did have the luxury of leaving Joao Felix and Bruno Fernandes on the bench, but they had enough to earn three points nonetheless.
Portugal were gifted a lead in rather comical fashion. A simple cross from Ruben Neves caused trouble for Azerbaijan. Goalkeeper Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev came flying out for a punch and completely missed the ball, leaving it to bounce off the hapless Maksim Medvedev and into the empty goal.
Bruno Fernandes and Joao Felix were brought on later, but no more goals came for Portugal. They did hold on though and got off to a good start in Group A.
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