- Dylan O'Connell
- Sat, Jun 22 2024
Dylan O’Connell reports from Dortmund
Portugal rubber stamped their credentials as one of the favourites for Euro 2024 by comfortably beating Turkey 3-0 at the BVB Stadium, the home of Borussia Dortmund.
Bernardo Silva opened the scoring in the 21ST minute and an own goal from Samet Akaydin doubled their advantage just before the half-hour.
Bruno Fernandes made it 3-0 after the restart and secured his side’s place in the next stage of the competition, and their final position in the group is set to be decided after the final group game against Georgia.
Roberto Martinez’s team delivered a message by controlling the chaos in a ground and city taken over by Turkish supporters, who spent the hours leading up to kick-off at a festival of local and national identity in the centre of the town.
This was an occasion for a country looking to qualify for the knock-out round of a major tournament for the first time since 2008, and a group of people looking to assert their sense of self in the place which invited in their ancestors in as ‘guest workers’ in the 1960s and 70s.
It felt like a real event, to the people in the stands and the players on the pitch, and Portugal used their collective experience to dampen the spirit of a ‘home side’ playing 2,450km away from Istanbul.
This started with a neat passage of play on the right that freed-up Kerem Aktürkoğlu for a shot inside the area. The Galatasaray forward did everything right, but Portugal managed to scrambled together a last ditch clearance which knocked the ball away.
Fernandes responded to this incursion by playing Cristiano Ronaldo into space, and an attempted header by the striker went narrowly wide.
Turkey tried building from the back when they got the ball back, and a quick passing sequence put Orkun Kökçü through on goal. Pepe slid in and bailed out Portugal on this occasion, and this was the last real moment of promise from the Turkish forwards.
Portugal then took the lead, and Silva silenced the stadium with a side-footed finish into the top corner.
Turkey reset themselves and tried building from the back. This played into the strengths of Fernandes and Silva, as they were able to push up and force Akaydin and Abdülkerim Bardakcı into making mistakes.
This is where the second goal came from. An Akaydin back-pass to Altay Bayindir had too much power and the ball went beyond the goalkeeper, who was stationed in front of the Portuguese fans.
A moment of confusion followed, and the stadium erupted when the referee confirmed it was 2-0. The Turkish supporters were not happy, and this became clear with the sound of jeers and complaints at half-time.
The rush of blood after the restart faded into a quick Portugal counter-attack and instead of going for goal, Ronaldo squared to Fernandes, who finished into an empty net.
Turkey seemed to have no idea in how to respond. They tried creating overlaps on the right with Yunus Akgün and Zeki Çelik, and these were easily dealt with by Pepe. There were also a number of attempts at going long, which had minimal impact on Portugal’s defence.
Vincenzo Montella tried going to his bench in a bid to ignite some fight back. Four new players, including Real Madrid’s Arda Güler, were brought on with 20 minutes left to play, and still Portugal controlled the game’s tempo.
It ended as a rather routine win for Martinez and his players, who move onto a game with Georgia on Wednesday night.
Turkey: Altay Bayindir; Zeki Çelik, Samet Akaydin (Merih Demiral 80), Orkun Kökçü (Yusuf Yazıcı HT), Kerem Aktürkoğlu (Kenan Yıldız 58), Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Abdülkerim Bardakcı, Ferdi Kadıoğlu, Barış Alper Yılmaz, Kaan Ayhan (İsmail Yüksek 58), Yunus Akgün (Arda Güler 69).
Subs Not Used: Uğurcan Çakır (GK); Okay Yokuslu, Cenk Tosun, Ahmetcan Kaplam, Salih Ozcan, Mert Muldur, Semish Kıclıcsoy, Bertug Yıldırım.
Booked: Abdülkerim Bardakcı (25); Samet Akaydin (42); Zeki Çelik (42),
Portugal: Diogo Costa; Pepe (Antonio Silva 83), Ruben Dias, João Palhinha (Ruben Neves 45), Cristano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernando Silva, Rafael Leão (Pedro Neto 45), Nuno Mendes, João Cancelo (Nelson Semedo 68), Vitinha (João Neves 88).
Subs Not Used: Rui Patricio (GK); Jose Sa, Diogo Dalot, Goncalo Ramos, João Felix, Danilo, Goncalo Inacio, Matheus Nunes, Diogo Jota, Pedro Neto, Francisco Conceicao.
Booked: Rafael Leão (39); João Palhinha (45),
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany)
