Budapest: Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 109th international goal to level all-time record Portugal drew 2-2 draw against France to ease into the Euro 2020 pre-quarterfinals on Thursday. Meanwhile, Germany split points against a gritty Hungary at the Allianz Arena sail into the next round.
Elsewhere, Spain thrashed Slovakia 5-0, plagued by a couple of own goals, into the knockouts. Poland fell short against Sweden 2-3 despite Robert Lewandowski’s heroics in the second half.
At Budapest, Hugo Lloris fouled Danilo in the area at the half-hour mark and Cristiano Ronaldo duly converted from the spot to give Portugal the lead. It was also his first-ever goal against France. Portugal were more assertive in the first 30 minutes and got rewarded.
.@Cristiano ties Ali Daei 1⃣0⃣9⃣ for the most goals in international football.#POR #Ronaldo #GOAT #PORFRA #euro2020 #Euro2021 pic.twitter.com/Cey4sxceGp
— Sportslight Media (@SportslightMed_) June 23, 2021
The Les Blues got back into the game when Nelson Semedo was penalised for his tackle on Kylian Mbappe inside the penalty area. Karim Benzema converted it smoothly moments before half-time to go into the break with a 1-1 scoreline.
Benzema was in action once again when he gave the reigning World Champions the lead on 47 minutes striking a low shot past Rui Patricio from a Paul Pogba assist. But there was more drama in store. Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde handled the ball inside the penalty area leaving Portugal to return into the game.
Ronaldo rose to the occasion once again equalling Iran’s Ali Daei all-time record of 109 international goals. Patricio played a huge role with a couple of brilliant saves against Pogba and Antoine Griezmann to keep Portugal in the game.
“It was a fight and it wasn’t easy. We gave them the two goals from mistakes. We tried to win it,” said France head coach Didier Deschamps. “It means we’re top and that’s the best position.”
On the other hand, Hungary surprised Germany as they took the lead on 10 minutes through captain Adam Szalai. Kai Havertz scored the equaliser for the Germans injecting some life into his team on 66 minutes.
Hungarian midfielder Andras Schafer brought them back into the game on 68 minutes before Leon Goretzka restored parity on 85 minutes thereby crashing Hungary’s hope of reaching the knockouts. “We made mistakes but we fought, showed character. It was not for the faint-hearted. At the end, to come through this group was good and that was the aim,” German coach Joachim Low said.
For the Spanish, the game started on a gloomy note when Alvaro Morata had a penalty saved on just 12 minutes. But, an unfortunate mistake from Slovakia’s goalkeeper Martin Dubravka resulted in an own goal and Spain took lead at half an hour mark.
What followed was a train wreck for Slovakia as goals from Aymeric Laporte, Pablo Sarabia, Ferran Torres and one more own goal from Juraj Kucka pretty much wrapped it up for Spain.
On the other hand, Viktor Claesson’s injury-time goal handed Sweden the pathway into the knockouts. Emil Forsberg gave Sweden the lead within 82 seconds before making it 2-0 on 59 minutes. However, Lewandowski fought back with a brace on 61st and 84th minutes.
