No CR7, no worries 💥 Portugal thrash Armenia, seal World Cup spot ✅ Jota tribute | OneFootball

Portugal needed to win to qualify for the World Cup, avoiding being caught by Hungary, after the traumatic defeat to Ireland and in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, who was suspended following his red card against the Irish.

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No problems, however, for the Portuguese: five goals in the first half were enough to close out the match, with the Lusitanians further increasing the score in the second half to the final 9-1.

Hat-tricks for Bruno Fernandes and Joao Neves, with the latter scoring his first ever goals for the national team today.

The match was marked by the memory of the legendary Eusébio and especially Diogo Jota, who was honored both by Renato Veiga during the celebrations for the first goal of the match, and by the entire stadium in the 21st minute, which matches his shirt number.

CR7 was absent for the day, but will in all likelihood fly to the World Cup, which he will play at the age of 41.

😬 CR7's message

Despite much controversy over CR7's absence, the captain of Portugal wanted to send a message of support to his teammates for such a historic match.

"Força squadra! Tutti uniti oggi e sempre! Per il Portogallo e per la nostra bandiera!" ("Come on team! All together today and always! For Portugal and for our flag!"), this was Cristiano Ronaldo's message.

🥲 Veiga opens the scoring, double tribute

The match was unlocked after just 7 minutes with a header from former Juventus player Renato Veiga.

Dangerous free kick from Bruno Fernandes from the side: the ball ricochets between the goalkeeper and the post and Veiga heads it into the net.

First goal for the national team for the defender, who wanted to dedicate the goal to Diogo Jota, showing with his hands the numbers 2 and 1, which made up the shirt number of his former national teammate who died a few months ago in a car accident.

Some also noticed that Veiga scored wearing the number 13 jersey, which belonged to Eusébio, on the very day dedicated to the memory of the legendary "Black Panther".

🥵 Things get complicated

There was barely time to celebrate Ireland's penalty, which temporarily leveled the score in Hungary-Ireland, before Portugal conceded the equalizer in the 18th minute.

Lightning-fast run down the wing by Ranos and a pass for an easy tap-in by Spertsyan, which complicated things for the Portuguese, at least for a few minutes.

11th goal for Spertsyan of Krasnodar with the national team, the only player in the Armenian squad to have reached double figures internationally.

🤩 Tribute to Diogo Jota and a broken match

In the 21st minute, matching Diogo Jota's shirt number, the Estadio do Dragao paid a heartfelt tribute to the player who died on July 3 in a car accident along with his brother.

Around the half-hour mark, the turning point in the match arrived: two goals in two minutes allowed Portugal to take the lead and break Armenia's resistance.

In the 28th minute, Gonçalo Ramos struck with his 10th goal for the national team, pouncing on a reckless back pass from the Armenian defense.

Then in the 30th minute, Joao Neves scored with a lightning-quick low shot from the edge of the area: his first goal for the national team as well.

Joao Neves then scored again in the 41st minute to make it 4-1 with a spectacular free kick that hit the underside of the crossbar before going in, behind an Avagyan who couldn't even move.

💥 Stop that Bruno Fernandes

In added time at the end of the first half, the fifth goal arrived, with a penalty calmly converted by Bruno Fernandes.

63 penalties scored out of 71 taken for Fernandes, who has never missed from the spot for the Portuguese national team (he has taken 4).

The United midfielder had already delighted in the first half with a rabona cross.

He would unlock the score again at the start of the second half, with the 6-1 goal set up by a play from Gonçalo Ramos: a lightning diagonal and his 27th goal for the national team.

But Bruno Fernandes' match wasn't over yet, as he also took the captain's armband (normally worn by Cristiano Ronaldo) after Bernardo Silva left the pitch: in the 72nd minute, another penalty allowed the number 8 of the Portuguese national team to further improve the score and his own stats, bringing his team to 7-1 and completing his personal hat-trick. 

In short, Portugal kept on dominating, with World Cup qualification now virtually secured.

Hat-trick for Neves too, then Conceicao: it's 9-1

Another Portuguese player completed his personal hat-trick: Joao Neves, who before today had never scored for the national team and who, in the 80th minute, scored his third goal of the match.

Downpour at the Dragao, and not just of goals: the match ended under heavy rain and the ninth Portuguese goal arrived, scored in the last action by Francisco Conceicao with a left-footed shot from the edge of the area.

The final score was 9-1, a result that just falls short of Portugal's best ever win (a 9-0 against Luxembourg in 2023), as well as Armenia's worst ever defeat (also 9-0, against Norway in 2022).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

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