Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a brace for the second straight game as Portugal thrashed Luxembourg 6-0 in their EURO 2024 qualifier on Sunday night.
EURO 2024 Qualifier
Result: Luxembourg 0-6 Portugal
Date: 26 March 2023
Venue: Stade de Luxembourg
Ronaldo and Joao Felix continued to lead the line, as Roberto Martinez recalled Diogo Dalot, Nuno Mendes and Antonio Silva after the midweek win over Liechtenstein .
The visitors got off to the perfect start as Ronaldo opened the scoring after nine minutes, with the 38-year-old forward nodding home a cross from Mendes.
The lead was doubled six minutes later through Joao Felix, who got on the end of Bernardo Silva's cross to head past Luxembourg goalkeeper Anthony Moris from close range.
It was 3-0 before the 20-minute mark as Silva got his name on the score-sheet by getting on the end of Joao Palhinha's cross and planted a header of his own into the far corner.
Ronaldo would go on to get his second and Portugal's fourth goal in the 31st minute. Bruno Fernandes did well to pick out his former Manchester United, who fired into the bottom corner with a left-footed strike.
After a disappointing first-half showing, Luxembourg carved out a couple openings in the early stages of the second half as Sebastien Thill forced a good save out of goalkeeper Rui Patricio while Maxime Chanot went close with a glancing header.
There would be no hat-trick for Ronaldo, who made way for Gancalo Ramos in the 65th minute while Ruben Neves replaced Silva in the Portugal midfield.
Otavio was also introduced by Martinez on 75 minutes and his impact was immediate after bagging Portugal's fifth goal two minutes after his arrival after being set up by Rafael Leao.
Portugal were afforded the chance to grab a sixth goal in the 85th minute after being awarded a penalty, but Rafael Leao saw his strike saved by Anthony Moris.
Leao did make up for the miss three minutes later when he broke down the left flank and skipped past a couple challenges before burying the ball into the bottom corner to round off the scoring.
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