It was an encouraging performance from the Seleção in the Portuguese capital last night, defeating Serbia to take top spot until the summer holidays at least.
Here’s a breakdown of how the team played and PortuGOAL’s individual player ratings.
Starting with a nominal 4-4-2, which at times morphed into 4-3-3, thanks to Nani’s ability to ignore tactical instructions, Portugal managed to overcome the obvious midfield obstacles ranged against them to dominate the middle orders.
Upfront, there was little joy for Danny and Cristiano Ronaldo, but – with the goals coming from other sources – it mattered little on this occasion. The home side appeared to finish with a 4-2-3-1 with Tiago and William Carvalho hanging back to protect the lead as the clock ticked past 90.
Player Ratings:
Rui Patrício: 7/10 Little to do and when he was needed, he could get nowhere near Matic’s unbelievable piece of opportunism. Did not actually have to make a single difficult save, as all Serbia’s efforts passed by the goal frame.
José Bosingwa: 7/10 Showed great pace in tracking Serbia’s early breaks forward and had to be alert to the forward raids of Kolarov and Tadic in the second period. Held his ground well.
Ricardo Carvalho: 7/10 Had begun the game really well, becoming Portugal’s oldest ever international scorer with a well-placed header from Coentrão’s cross, but then picked up an injury and was replaced by José Fonte.
Bruno Alves: 7/10 Had his hands full with the well-built Markovic but was needed to steady the ship after Carvalho’s early departure. José Fonte made a nervous entry to the game and it was Alves who helped him through it.
Eliseu: 6/10 Weakest performer of the back four. Never really looked under control and his positional sense brought him too far infield at times. This, along with a slightly slow rate of recovery, meant the Serbs came through on his side with some success.
Tiago: 8/10 Imperious in midfield, despite having the giant Matic to face up to. Went about his work quietly and efficiently and vied with Coentrão for man of the match in my opinion.
Nani: 6/10 Pushed forward a lot early on to make the formation look like a 4-3-3 at times, but – when team-mates required him to bolster the midfield – he was not always on hand to help.
Fábio Coentrão: 9/10 Man of the match by a touch in front of Tiago. All action performance in an advanced role on the left, which gave the lumpen Dusan Basta a heavy evening’s work. Scored the second, set up the first. Terrific.
João Moutinho: 8/10 Slippery, tricky and forceful, the little Monaco midfielder held his ground against the giants around him and dug out the game’s most perspicacious passes, including a gem of a low cross to the far post for the second goal.
Danny: 6/10 Difficult evening with Ronaldo and Nani taking much of the forward ball and interchanging between wing and more central areas. Looked lively to start with, fought for the ball and made himself available but did not quite click with those around him.
Cristiano Ronaldo: 8/10 Slightly frustrating night for Portugal’s main man. Had two powerful shots stopped by Stoijkovic, the second a screamer towards the top corner, but seemed always to be thwarted by an outstretched leg or glove at the last moment. No doubting the class, not the workrate though.
Substitutes:
José Fonte: 7/10 Inexperienced at this level and it showed to start with, after a surprise call up to replace the injured Ricardo Carvalho. Atoned well thereafter with the guiding hand of Bruno Alves never far away.
Ricardo Quaresma: 6/10 Brought on after 78 minutes to replace Coentrão. Pepped up the attack and tracked Basta’s increasingly desperate runs forward. Did his job and caused some panic in the tiring Serbian rearguard.
William Carvalho: N/A – not enough time to earn a score. Brought on after 85 minutes for Danny to help protect the fragile lead.
by Simon Curtis
Related: Portugal take giant stride towards Euro 2016 - Portugal 2-1 Serbia match report
