Turkey thrashes Georgia, Ronaldo’s Portugal scrape Euro 2024 opener victory

Though they needed to come from behind with a 92nd-minute winner from teenager Francisco Conceicao, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal upset the Czech Republic 2-1 on Tuesday to secure a Euro 2024 debut victory on Tuesday.Turkey defeated Georgia 3-1 in a gripping contest in Dortmund earlier in the section’s other showdown.

Roberto Martinez’s Portugal qualified in a canter with a 100% record, but only barely scraped victory in Leipzig in their first encounter under driving rain.

Ronaldo participated in a record-brҽaking sixth European Championship, and 41-year-old defender Pepe became the oldest ever player for the Selecao.

After the hour mark, the Czechs went ahead against the flow of play with Lukas Provod’s excellent effort from the edge of the box, but Robin Hranac’s own goal quickly leveled Portugal before Conceicao’s winner.

Portugal midfielder Vitinha, chosen player of the match, remarked, “We want to do more, but there was also a lot of emotional, a lot of desire and sometimes we failed to pull off the strategic plan.”

“We wanted to come out strong, exhibit our strength, and sadly we let up the goal first on the Czech Republic’s first chance.

“We proved all our coolness and resilience.”

Marching to the game waving flags and in great spirits despite a brief but strong thunderstorm, Portugal supporters yelled Ronaldo’s name and mimicked his “Suuuui” victory shout.

Portugal’s open training session on Saturday drew over 8,000 supporters, many of whom were merely hoping to catch a sight of the 39-year-old former Real Madrid striker.

Thousands of supporters wore replica Ronaldo shirts during the game, but on a dismal night against a strong Czech team they were unable to witness the all-time record Euros goal scorer reach the net.

Portugal Narrowly Defeats Czech Republic

Ronaldo was offside but repeatedly denied by goalie Jindrich Stanek on a record Euros appearance heading against the post.

Diogo Jota placed the rebound into the net, however VAR called off the goal after Al Nassr striker Ronaldo’s v𝔦olation was noted.

Ultimately, it made no difference for Portugal since 21-year-old Porto winger Conceicao, son of former Portugal player Sergio Conceicao, struck from close range.

Martinez told reporters, “Francisco is the ultimate example of earning it; he deserves to be here and shown he is ready to help the group.”

Former Wigan and Everton coach defended his team’s output.

“Today we won, because the group is united; it’s a very resilient group; we became resilient over the past few days,” he remarked.

“(After conceding) we wouldn’t have found it very simple to point the finger at one another. We considered ourselves as a team.

After f𝔦ghting so fiercely and virtually gaining a point, the Czechs were left in excruciating paiɳ.

“It hurts terribly when you work like this for ninety minutes; you give everything and you lose in the end,” Czech goalscorer Provod remarked.

“Our defenders gave a really outstanding performance. We simply needed some more luck.