13th October, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace on Friday as Portugal beat Slovakia 3-2 to qualify for next year’s Euro in Germany with two games to spare.
Goncalo Ramos put Portugal in the lead on 18 minutes. He jumped highest to connect with a perfect cross from Bruno Fernandes and planted his close-range header low into the middle of the goal.
Ronaldo made it 2-0 on 29 minutes from the penalty spot. He won the battle of wills and sent an unstoppable penalty past Martin Dubravka into the bottom right corner.
Slovakia reduced the tally on 69 minutes. David Hancko shot from distance and his effort took a nick off the defender and went past Diogo Costa to make it 2-1.
Three minutes later Bruno Fernandes put the ball on a plate for Ronaldo, who scored with a simple close-range finish to make it 3-1.
On 10 minutes to duration, Stanislav Lobotka got to the ball and unleashed a strong shot from distance. It turned out to be a good decision as his effort found its way into the top right corner to make it 3-2.