Seville: Cristiano Ronaldo probably played his last European Championships game after Belgium oust the defending champions with a 1-0 win at the Euro 2020 pre-quarterfinals on Monday. Thorgan Hazard scored the only goal in the first half.
Earlier, the Czech Republic caused a major upset in the tournament eliminating the 10-man Netherlands 2-0 in Budapest. Belgium will face a high-flying Italy while the Czech Republic face the Denmark test in the quarterfinals.
At Estadio La Cartuja, Portugal had a lot of chances but failed to convert any, thanks to Thibaut Courtois’ brilliance under the Belgium bar. Thorgan hit Belgium’s first genuine shot on goal on 20 minutes from a distance but was unlucky.
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Minutes later, Courtois denied a freekick from Ronaldo before the younger of the Hazard brothers finally broke the deadlock three minutes from the half-time whistle. Belgium had a tough time holding onto their lead with talismanic Ronaldo’s tireless efforts from the opposite end but eventually managed to keep the scoreline the same.
Elsewhere, Czech Republic shocked the Netherlands 2-0 at the Puskas Arena. The first half ended goalless as Daniel Dumfries and Peter Sevcik missed several opportunities providing a boring 45 minutes.
Soon after the break, the Dutch were rendered to 10 men after defender Matthijs de Ligt was sent off for a handball at 55th minute. Tomas Holes finally gave Czech the lead with a powerful header at the 68th minute. 10 minutes later, Peter Schick extended the lead netting his fourth goal of the tournament.
