Francisco Conceicao scored a late winner as Portugal secured a hard fought 2-1 victory over Czech Republic in their Euro 2024 opener at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.
In the other match of the section, Turkey defeated Georgia 3-1 in a thrilling game held in Dortmund.
Portugal, led by Roberto Martinez, qualified easily with a perfect record, but they narrowly prevailed in their opening game in Leipzig despite torrential rain.
Ronaldo participated in a sixth European Championship that broke records, and Pepe, a 41-year-old defender, became the oldest Selecao player in tournament history.
Lukas Provod’s excellent drive from the edge of the box gave the Czechs the lead against the flow of play after the hour, but Robin Hranac’s own goal quickly tied the score before Conceicao’s winner.
“We want to do more, but there was also a lot of emotion, a lot of desire and sometimes we failed to pull off the strategic plan,” said Portugal midfielder Vitinha, awarded player of the match.
“We wanted to come out strong, show our strength and unfortunately we conceded the goal first, on the Czech Republic’s first opportunity.
“We showed all our coolness and resilience.”
Despite a short but strong thunderstorm, Portugal fans were in high spirits as they marched to the game carrying flags and mimicking Ronaldo’s “Suuuui” celebration cry. They also sang his name.
Approximately eight thousand spectators watched Portugal’s open training session on Saturday, with many of them merely hoping to catch a glimpse of the 39-year-old former striker for Real Madrid.
Despite thousands of supporters wearing fake Ronaldo shirts, the match ended in a disheartening loss as the all-time leading scorer in the Euros failed to find the net against a strong Czech team.
On a historic Euros appearance, Ronaldo was denied three times by goalie Jindrich Stanek. He also headed against the post but was not onside.
Diogo Jota scored on the rebound, but VAR overturned the goal because Ronaldo, the striker for Al Nassr, had acted improperly.
Portugal ultimately lost because of a close-range goal from Porto winger Conceicao, 21, the son of former Portugal international Sergio Conceicao.
“Francisco is the ultimate example of earning it, he deserves to be here and showed he is ready to help the group,” Martinez told reporters.
The former Everton and Wigan boss defended the performance of his squad.
“Today we won, because the group is united, it’s a very resilient group, we became resilient over the past few days,” he said.
“(After conceding) it would have been very easy to blame each other but we didn’t do that. We were a team.”
After fighting so hard and coming dangerously close to winning a point, the Czechs were left in agony.
“It hurts terribly when you work like this for 90 minutes, you give everything and you lose in the end,” said Czech goalscorer Provod.
“Our defenders played an incredible game. We just needed a bit more luck.”
Photo by EPA/CLEMENS BILAN
