Cristiano Ronaldo was Portugal’s hero for the umpteenth time as he scored the decisive goal in their 2-1 win over Germany in the Nations League.
After finding themselves a goal down through Florian Wirtz’s header, Portugal came roaring back to win the semi-final tie in Munich’s Allianz Arena.
This goal secured Portugal’s place in the Nations League finalGetty Ronaldo now has 937 career goals, 137 for PortugalGettyA stunning curling effort from 25 yards out by Francisco Conceicao levelled the scores on 63 minutes before Ronaldo had the final say five minutes later.
The Al Nassr star found himself in space as Nuno Mendes laid the ball on a plate for him with a low cross from the left and made no mistake with the simplest of finishes.
It means Portugal advance to Sunday’s final, where they will meet the winner of the Spain vs France clash on Thursday night.
The result is also Portugal’s first win over Germany in 25 years.
As Ronaldo made his international debut in 2003, this is the first time he has been on the winning side when facing the German national team.
It was a happy end to an evening for Ronaldo which began awkwardly as he cast a bemused look after a pitch invader tried to jump on his back and get a selfie with him.
The 40-year-old was going through his warm-up along with the rest of his Portugal teammates ahead of their Nations League semi-final clash against Germany.
But just as Ronaldo was about to go through an exercise, a fan ran over and got a hold of him.
The Portuguese great jumped out of the way at first as the fan came in at full speed and did well to avoid falling over on the slippery turf at the Allianz Arena.
But the unruly fan tried his luck once again and managed to place his hands on Ronaldo, before a Portugal staff member intervened.
Liverpool target Wirtz broke the deadlock early in the second halfGetty Conceicao levelled with this beautiful strikeGetty Ronaldo was accosted by a pitch invader while the teams warmed up before kick-offAFP via Getty The fan was dragged away by stewards immediatelyAFP via GettyStadium security were not far behind, with one steward placing the fan in a headlock and dragging him away.
Ronaldo’s teammates were left rather perplexed at what had unfolded as they continued to go through their warm-up.
Both Portugal and Germany had to conduct their warm-ups later than anticipated due to inclement weather.
Rain had fallen by the bucketload in Bavaria, but it was a huge burst of hailstone that prompted kick-off to be delayed.
At first, UEFA simply pushed back the starting time with no confirmation when the match would get underway.
But it was soon revealed the contest would be delayed by only ten minutes.
Portugal are eyeing Nations League glory for a second time, having won the inaugural competition in 2019GettyFans inside the Allianz Arena who had scurried up the stairs to shelter from the adverse conditions soon returned to their seats once the action began.
Ronaldo sits clear as the nation’s most capped player and record goalscorer, with 220 caps and 137 goals to his name.
Ronaldo’s triple-figure goal tally is an absurd 89 more than Pauleta, who has scored the second-most goals for Portugal with 47 from 88 caps.
The five-time Ballon d’Or hopes to add a second Nations League trophy to his illustrious silverware collection.
Portugal won the inaugural instalment of the tournament in 2019 when they beat Netherlands in the final thanks to Goncalo Guedes’ strike.
Ronaldo captained the side and played the full contest as he picked up just his second international trophy to go with his Euro 2016 title.
He also finished as the third-top goalscorer in League A for the 2018/19 Nations League with three, a tally bettered by only Switzerland’s Haris Seferovic and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku.
But Ronaldo performed even better in the latest edition of the Nations League as he top scored with six goals.
Germany’s Tim Kleindienst was the second-highest goalscorer in League A with four as a whopping 12 players were tied for third with three goals.
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