Defensive breakdown leaves Portuguese hopes on a knife-edge

Portugal saw their hopes of successfully defending their European Championship crown take a massive hit on Saturday after suffering a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Germany in Munich.

Having survived an early scare when Robin Gosens had a goal disallowed for an offside in the build-up, Portugal landed a blow of their own with a scintillating breakaway goal.

Cristiano Ronaldo rose high to head away a German corner allowing Bernardo Silva to roam forward on the counter. The Manchester City man found Dioga Jota brilliantly who brought the ball down on his chest and squared the ball for Ronaldo to tap the ball into an empty goal and finish the move he started.

The goal came against the run of play but it gave Fernando Santos the lead he craved. His side could now sit back and soak up the pressure before hitting Germany on the break.

Portugal had a swagger about them. Ronaldo clipped the ball over Antonio Rudiger and flicked the ball to Jota while looking in the opposite direction. Perhaps this fired Germany up.

The lead was not to last. Despite being reknowned for being a defensively astute manager, Santos’ troops did not heed the earlier warning and once again Gosens caused havoc in the box with his cross turned into his own net by Ruben Dias. The Football Writers’ Player of the Year went at the ball with his wrong foot and sliced in under pressure from Kai Havertz.

Germany were causing all sorts of issues out wide. Joshua Kimmich was finding space on the right and switching the play, using the full width of the pitch.

Gosens was rampant on the left with Nelson Semedo found wanting in terms of dealing with the Atalanta wing-back. Semedo has a decent skillset bombing forward as a modern full-back but has always been suspect defensively and his flaws were laid bare here in devastating fashion.

Guerreiro was the second Portuguese player to fire past his own goalkeeper but in truth it would be hard to blame the Dortmund man too much as he was desperately trying to deal with incessant German pressure.

Had Ruben Dias not come up with a last-ditch block to deny Havertz, the match could have been out of Portugal’s reach before they had even processed the first goal.

Even Ronaldo was struggling in the Munich heat, giving the ball away in midfield as Joachim Loew’s men were swarming their opposition.

The half time whistle was greatly received by the Portuguese fans and Santos who needed to reorganise and stop his side getting outdone by the same attacks over and over again.

Silva was instrumental in Ronaldo’s goal and was no worse than anyone else on the pitch but made way at half-time to be replaced by Renato Sanches. Sanches did offer a bit more energy in midfield but any hope that it would offer more protection to Semedo were quickly dashed.

The Wolves defender will be having nightmares at the thought of the German full back Gosens. He was all over the place at the back once more leaving Gosens in acres of space, allowing him to square the ball for Havertz to tap home.

It would be fair to expect a top coach like Santos to have sorted out those defensive issues or at least try something different to stem the tide but to nobody’s surprise Gosens added the icing on the cake to his and Germany’s performance by heading home a fourth goal.

Portugal were a shambles at the back and a shadow of the side that only conceded one goal in the knockout stages in 2016. Pepe was run ragged by Serge Gnabry while Dias looked far removed from a top level defender.

Jota did manage to pull a goal back which may prove crucial if a third place finish comes down to goal difference. Sanches did his best to make it a grandstand finish but his long-range effort thundered off the post.

Aside from the defensive issues, another worry for Santos will be the performance of Bruno Fernandes. The Manchester United man was largely anonymous and could find himself in danger of dropping out of the starting lineup as Portugal do have a wealth of talent on the bench.

Things won’t get any easier as next up is Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Karim Benzema. Portugal have the advantage of knowing exactly what they will need to get through but on the flip side, France will know what is required to knock Santos’s men out and exact revenge for the 2016 final.

It is perfectly set up for a fascinating final game showdown in Budapest.

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