Ronaldo inspired-Portugal edge Salah's Egypt

by Austin Ditlhobolo

Saturday Mar 24, 2018. 00:06

Portugal came back to beat Egypt 2-1 in an international friendly match at the Stadion Letzigrund in Switzerland on Friday night.

The first real chance of the game fell for Egypt, but Mahmoud Trezeguet's pulled back pass for Abdallah El-Said, whose effort was blocked by Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio eight minutes into the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who was looking lively for Portugal, went down in the Egypt box challenged by Ahmed Hegazi in the 18th minute, but the referee waved play on.

Ronaldo then saw his effort blocked from just behind the penalty spot foutr minutes before the half-hour mark as the Selection of Quinas looked to break the deadlock.

The momentum was with Portugal, who were awarded an indirect free kick in Egypt's area, but Ronaldo's effort was blocked by the Pharaohs' defensive wall in the 36th minute.

The Selection of the Quinas thought they had finally opened the scoring when Rolando scored with a powerful header, but the defender's goal was disallowed as the defender was offside on the stroke of half-time.

The score was 0-0 at the interval following a first-half which was dominated by Portugal.

The Pharaohs began the second-half brightly and they deservedly took the lead through Mohamed Salah, who beat Patricio with a curling low effort from outside the box to make it 1-0 five minutes after the restart.

Portugal coach Fernando Santos reacted by pulling out Joao Mario and he introduced Ricardo Quaresma in the 61st minute as the reigning European champions looked to level matters.

Quaresma tried his luck from range with 15 minutes left on the clock, but the attacking midfielder's attempt was easily saved by Mohamed El-Shennawy as the former African champions looked to hold on to their lead.

Portugal piled pressure on Egypt and Bruno Fernandes watched on in disbelief as El-Shennawy saved his long rang shot in the closing stages of the game. El-Shennawy then denied Gerson Martin with a good save.

However, El-Shennawy was finally beaten in stoppage time and it was Ronaldo, who scored with a header to make it 1-1 for Portugal.

Ronaldo then sealed Portugal's 2-1 win in the dying minutes of the game when he scored with a thunderous header which beat El-Shennawy hands down.

Portugal (0) 2 (Ronaldo 90+1', 90+4')
Egypt (0) 1 (Salah 55')

Egypt XI: El-Shennawy, Fathi, Gabr, Hegazi, Abdelshafy; Hamed (Ashour 87'), Elneny, Salah (Shikabala 79'), El-Said (Warda 66'), Trezeguet, Koka (Mohsen 62').

Portugal XI: Rui Patrício; Cédric, Bruno Alves, Rolando, Guerreiro; Bernardo Silva (Martins 68'), Neves (Fernandes 76'), Moutinho (Gomes 61'), João Mário (Quaresma 61'); André Silva (Guedes 76'), Ronaldo.