Ronaldo hits double as Portugal move past Slovakia to reach Euro 2024
Ronaldo scores brace
Published By: Kazeem Ugbodaga
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace on Friday as Portugal beat Slovakia 3-2 to qualify for next year’s Euro in Germany with two games to spare.
Goncalo Ramos put Portugal in the lead on 18 minutes. He jumped highest to connect with a perfect cross from Bruno Fernandes and planted his close-range header low into the middle of the goal.
Ronaldo made it 2-0 on 29 minutes from the penalty spot. He won the battle of wills and sent an unstoppable penalty past Martin Dubravka into the bottom right corner.
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Slovakia reduced the tally on 69 minutes. David Hancko shot from distance and his effort took a nick off the defender and went past Diogo Costa to make it 2-1.
Three minutes later Bruno Fernandes put the ball on a plate for Ronaldo, who scored with a simple close-range finish to make it 3-1.
On 10 minutes to duration, Stanislav Lobotka got to the ball and unleashed a strong shot from distance. It turned out to be a good decision as his effort found its way into the top right corner to make it 3-2.