(Chronicle) Portugal crashes into the Scottish wall and Croatia and Poland share the points

(Chronicle) Portugal crashes into the Scottish wall and Croatia and Poland share the points
(Chronicle) Portugal crashes into the Scottish wall and Croatia and Poland share the points

The Portuguese team has not gone beyond a draw against Scotland (0-0) and has been on the verge of qualifying for the quarterfinals on the fourth day of the group stage of League A of the Nations League, in which Poland and Croatia, who played the last quarter of an hour with one less, also shared the points (3-3).

At Hampden Park, the team led by Roberto Martínez crashed into the Scottish wall, which stopped rival attempts and only peeked through the Portuguese area on an early chance by Scott McTominay. Nuno Mendes, in a lateral foul against which goalkeeper Craig Gordon had to act, and Cristiano Ronaldo, with a bicycle kick, warned, but the score did not change at half-time.

The Al-Nassr star tried his luck at the start of the second half with a header that went high, and Francisco Conceiçao joined the festival of chances with a shot that went over the crossbar. Already in injury time, Rafael Leao saw how Nicky Devlin avoided his goal. Portugal interrupts a series of three consecutive wins and remains leader.

In that same group, Poland and Croatia tied in Warsaw (3-3), a result that leaves Real Madrid’s Luka Modric second (4) and Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski (4) third, who started on the bench after a “slight injury” occurs before the duel. It took only five minutes for the Polish team to take the lead thanks to a left-footed shot by Piotr Zielinski that the Balkan goalkeeper could not stop.

However, Zlatko Dalic’s men managed to turn the match around in just seven minutes; In the 19th minute, Borna Sosa volleyed the ball into the top corner, and five minutes later Petar Sucic managed to come back, before Martin Baturina made it 1-3. Nicola Zalewski closed the gap just before heading into the locker room tunnel.

Poland came alive as soon as the match resumed with a couple of chances, but Croatia responded and harassed Marcin Bulka’s goal, who had to work hard to thwart, in just a few minutes, a volley by Ivan Perisic, a shot from the edge of the area. by Igor Matanovic and a shot by Josko Gvardiol.

When the checkerboard was at its best, the Poles struck. Lewandowski, who had entered the field shortly before, assisted Sebastian Szymanski from the front, who from there equalized (min.68). The Balkans still had to face the last quarter of an hour with one less due to the expulsion for a direct red card of Dominik Livakovic.

In Spain’s other group match, on the 4th, Switzerland and Denmark also shared the points (2-2). In the 26th minute, Remo Freuler put the Swiss team ahead with a shot into the top corner, but just a minute later Gustav Isaksen equalized the contest by taking advantage of an assist from Christian Eriksen.

Just before the break, Zeki Amdouni put the hosts ahead again from the penalty spot after a foul in the area by Breel Embolo. Already in the 69th minute, Eriksen managed to return the tie to the light. With this result, the Danes are second with seven points and Switzerland remains without a win and is bottom (1).

In League C, Northern Ireland beat Bulgaria (5-0) to take the lead in Group 3, one point ahead of Belarus, which tied with Luxembourg (1-1). In Group 2, Romania extended its streak of consecutive victories to four by beating last-place Lithuania (1-2), a result that allows it to remain first in the table ahead of Kosovo, which beat Cyprus (3-1) .

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