Portugal player ratings versus Hungary | OneFootball

A night of rich entertainment ended in a 2-2 draw against Hungary in the Portuguese capital last night, as the Seleção frustratingly failed to book their place at the 2026 World Cup.

The somewhat anarchic nature of the game brought back memories of Portugal’s 3-3 draw against the same opponent at Euro 2016. On that afternoon in Lyon, Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals, and the captain looked extremely sharp as he repeated the feat yesterday, alongside excellent individual performances from Nuno Mendes, Rúben Dias and Vitinha.

PortuGOAL rates each of Portugal’s players at the Estádio José Alvalade.

Diogo Costa – 6.5/10

After saving well from Roland Sallai, Costa blotted his copybook from the resulting corner when he was caught in no man’s land to enable Attila Szalai to head Hungary into the lead. He recovered his composure and was faultless for the rest of the match, showing good anticipation to race out of his goal several times to thwart the visitors’ attempts to catch out Portugal with balls behind the defence and, as usual, distributed the ball beautifully, producing several outstanding long-range passes.

Nélson Semedo – 7/10

If fit, João Cancelo will own the right-back position for Portugal at the World Cup, but Semedo is well placed as the first-choice replacement after another solid all-round performance by the Fenerbahçe player, willingly providing support to the home team’s attacking efforts down the right flank. Perfect take, turn and cross to set up Ronaldo’s first goal.

Rúben Dias – 8/10

In an unusually wide-open game where both defences looked shaky, Dias stood out by making several key interventions, none more so than his superb headed clearance in the 72nd minute to prevent a certain goal for Szalai after the Hungarian centre-back’s header had hit the bar and he was about to nod in his second goal of the night from the rebound. Time and again Dias was in the right place to repel the dangerous Hungary attack, racking up 9 clearances and 2 blocked shots – the top individual statistics in both metrics. He also found time to nearly score a wonder-goal, his spectacular long-range effort on the hour mark smashing back into play off the post.

Renato Veiga – 6.5/10

Was drafted in to replace the injured Gonçalo Inácio, Martínez no doubt thinking Veiga would help thwart Hungary’s aerial threat, but in truth the Portuguese defence looked suspect when defending crosses all night – although it would be unfair to lay the blame for that solely at the Villarreal defender. Good anticipation allowed Veiga to make some good interceptions high up the pitch.

Nuno Mendes – 7.5/10

Another display full of dynamism by the majestic PSG left-back, the whole of Portugal must be praying Mendes arrives at the World Cup fully fit. If he is not the team’s most important player, he is certainly the one whose qualities cannot be replaced by anyone else, his tenacious defending, darting runs towards into the heart of the opposition defence and clever passing all on show in the stadium where he first shot to fame for Sporting. Such is his football IQ that Martínez instructed Mendes to play much of this match as an inside-left midfielder, where he carried out his duties with his characteristic zest and intelligence.

Rúben Neves – 6.5/10

Often the target of criticism by Portugal fans and media analysts, Neves has proven over the past six months that he fully deserves to be part of the Seleção setup. On the back of his vital winner against Ireland on Saturday, the confident Neves put in another decent shift, curiously often the furthest midfielder forward as Vitinha dropped back to start Portugal’s attacking buildup.

Vitinha – 7.5/10

Not as dominant as in other games, given the frenetic nature of the encounter, but Vitinha still provided several moments of pure class knitting together play in his inimitable style. Excellent “through the eye of the needle” pass to Semedo for the first goal, and took care of the ball fantastically in the second half especially.

Bernardo Silva – 7/10

Busy performance from Bernardo, involved throughout and coming to the fore especially during Portugal’s best spell at the start of the second half. Clever movement dragged away a Hungary defender and created space for Semedo to cross for the first goal, and a wonderful pass to Conceição could easily have led to another goal.

Bruno Fernandes – 6/10

Portugal’s best player by some distance for months following Roberto Martínez’s appointment, Bruno has looked off-colour this season, mirroring his club form which has dipped significantly in 2025/26. Unlucky not to score when Balázs Tóth tipped his powerful left-foot shot onto the post, but it was a rare moment in a game where Fernandes was largely anonymous.

Pedro Neto – 6.5/10

Plenty of hard running and hard work as per usual, but Neto was hesitant in his decision making in the first half, making little of several promising openings. Improved in the second half and brought a sharp save out of Tóth before coming off after an hour.

Cristiano Ronaldo – 8/10

The years go by and the legend continues to be embellished. Looking bright, focused and fully energised, Ronaldo’s movement – even at 40 years of age – is simply too shrewd for defenders to negate, allowing him to score two poacher’s goals with crisp finishes. Clocked up a match high 7 attempts on goal (3 on target) and could have scored more if his teammates had spotted his runs into space on several occasions. Having scored at least once in six of his last seven matches for the Seleção, there can no longer be any arguments about Ronaldo’s utility to the team.

Substitutes

Francisco Conceição – 5.5/10

Immediately after coming on dinked a sumptuous cross onto the head of fellow substitute João Félix, which nearly resulted in a goal, but seemed to switch off afterwards, losing concentration on a few occasions and producing a careless first touch to spurn a great chance to create danger when played clean through by Bernardo.

João Félix – 6/10

Nearly scored second after coming on, Balázs Tóth’s brilliant reflex save pushing his header over the bar, although had Félix placed the ball better the goalkeeper would have been helpless. Linked up well with his teammates and provided a spark, had a difficult late chance but could not bring about Portugal’s third goal.

João Palhinha – 5.5/10

A couple of trademark crunching tackles to stop the Hungarians in their tracks, Palhinha did not have much effect on the game. Twice had the opportunity to cross but that is not his game and his delivery was wayward.

Gonçalo Ramos – little over 10 minutes on the pitch, not rated