Bruno Fernandes fired Portugal to the 2022 World Cup with a brace in a 2-0 victory over Italy’s conquerors North Macedonia on Tuesday, while Robert Lewandowski guided Poland past Sweden.

Italy’s shock exit had North Macedonia dreaming of their first-ever appearance at a World Cup final but Portugal and Fernandes proved a step too far in Porto.

Portugal’s first chance came in the 14th minute when Jota threaded Ronaldo through and the striker unleashed with his left foot, only to fire wide of the far post.

Jota headed into the ground and over from a Fernandes corner and then, in the 32nd minute, Fernandes struck, capitalising on an error from North Macedonian captain Stefan Ristovski.

Fernandes intercepted Ristovski’s wild cross-field pass, taming the ball with a cushioned pass forward to his Manchester United teammate Ronaldo. Ronaldo arrived at the edge of the area but, instead of shooting, nudged right through the legs of Visar Misliu and back to Fernandes, who drove in.

Jota might have doubled the advantage but hit the side-netting before half time, which North Macedonia were relieved to reach without further punishment after Portugal’s most assertive spell so far.

The visitors regrouped and found their feet at the start of the second period, but were undone again by a slick Portuguese break, and Fernandes.

Pepe dispossessed Enis Bardhi and Portugal were away, the ball spread left to Jota who arced a superb cross into the area. Fernandes arrived and caught the finish perfectly on the half-volley.

North Macedonia wanted a late penalty when Danilo Pereira nicked the ball away from Bojan Miovski in the area before Ronaldo was prevented from reaching Fernandes’ cross to the near post on another counter-attack.

With the minnows beaten, Ronaldo can now look to Qatar.

In the other game of the night, Robert Lewandowski slotted home a second-half penalty as Poland booked their berth at the World Cup finals with a 2-0 win over Sweden.

After the Poland captain converted a spot kick, Piotr Zielinski put the game beyond doubt with a superb second goal for the hosts in Chorzow.

Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny played a key role in Poland’s victory, with saves to deny Swedish playmaker Emil Forsberg in both halves.

Poland go into Friday’s draw for the group stages of the World Cup finals, from 21 November to 18 December, after dominating the second half.

The Poles were awarded the crucial penalty just after half time.

Attacking midfielder Sebastian Szymanski rolled the ball into substitute Grzegorz Krychowiak, who was fouled by Jesper Karlstrom.

The referee pointed straight to the spot and it was a trademark penalty kick by Lewandowski. The Bayern Munich ace casually arced his run, waited for Robin Olsen to move and then slotted the ball to the left of the Swedish goalkeeper.

It was his 75th goal for Poland and arguably one of his most important.

Zielinski put the result beyond doubt when he capitalised on a slip by Sweden defender Marcus Danielson and sprinted clear.

He slotted his shot past Olsen with 18 minutes left to spark wild celebrations from the home crowd.

Only a superb save from Olsen denied Lewandowski a second goal when the Poland striker was allowed a rare late chance in the area by the Swedish defence.

Veteran Zlatan Ibrahimovic came on for the final 10 minutes, but the 40-year-old Sweden striker was unable to influence the course of the match and will miss out on a third appearance at a World Cup finals.