Porto (Portugal) (AFP)
Deprived of Cristiano Ronaldo, forfeit due to a toe infection, Portugal still started the defense of their Nations League title by beating Croatia (4-1), also lessened by the absences of Modric and Rakitic, Saturday in Porto.
By easily disposing of the vice-world champion, the reigning European champions are placed at the top of the classification of this group 3 of League A, just ahead of France who beat Sweden in Solna (1-0) in the other game of the evening.
Without the top scorer in its history, the Seleçao had already wasted a series of chances when defender Joao Cancelo opened the scoring of a jewel in the skylight (1-0, 41st).
Replacing the five-time Golden Ball in the starting lineup of coach Fernando Santos, Diogo Jota doubled the lead by taking the Croatian defense quickly to sign his first goal with Portugal (2-0, 58th).
Joao Félix widened the gap with a powerful strike from the right (3-0, 70th), also scoring his first international goal in six matches.
- Ronaldo uncertain in Sweden -
In stoppage time, Bruno Petkovic saved the honor of Croatia (3-1, 90 + 1) before André Silva fixed the final score (4-1, 90 + 5).
Placed on antibiotics to treat his right foot, Cristiano Ronaldo remains at 99 national goals.
He has not been able to train normally with his teammates since Wednesday, and remains uncertain about Portugal's trip to Sweden on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old is certainly anxious to get back on his feet, especially since he has not played since August 7 and the scathing elimination of Juve by Olympique Lyonnais in the round of 16 of the Champions League .
Conversely, the fine performance of OL's goalkeeper, Anthony Lopes, earned him a surprise start on Saturday in a position normally attributed to Rui Patricio.
The Franco-Portuguese, who had so far played only friendly matches, had a quiet evening at the Dragon stadium.
- Offensive waste -
Without their masters to play Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, Croatia let Portugal develop their possession game to build a convincing score despite some offensive waste.
Portugal hit the Croatian posts three times, on strikes from Felix (23rd), Jota (27th) and Raphaël Guerreiro (34th).
And the goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic released several good parades with shots from Cancelo (19th) and Pepe (25th).
The two selections, weaned from matches since November 2019, met for the first time since the round of 16 of Euro-2016 won by Portugal in overtime (1-0) on the road to their continental coronation.
Tuesday against France, revenge of the 2018 World Cup final won by the Blues (4-2), Croatia will still be without Modric and Rakitic, who asked to be exempted by coach Zlatko Dalic to better prepare for the resumption of the Spanish Liga.
Host country of the "Final Four" of the first edition of the League of Nations, played in June 2019, Portugal won the trophy by beating the Netherlands (1-0) in the final in Porto.
© 2020 AFP