Cristiano Ronaldo bagged the decisive goal as Portugal came from a goal down to beat Germany 2-1 in the first semi-final of the 2024/2025 UEFA Nations League played inside the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
It was Ronaldo’s 137th goal for the Portuguese senior men’s national team.
The last time Portugal defeated Germany was a 3-0 win in their final group game, during the 2000 European Championship co-hosted by The Netherlands and Belgium.
Going into the semi-final tie, Portugal had lost their last five matches with Germany.
Also, Portugal have now recorded four wins (five draws, 11 defeats) against the Germans.
After a goalless first half Florian Wirtz opened the scoring for Germany three minutes into the second half.
Francisco Conceicao, who came on in the 58th minute, made it 1-1 with a beautiful left-foot curler into the far corner.
Then in the 68th minute Ronaldo netted the winner as he tapped home Paris Saint-Germain’s Nuno Mendes’ low cross.
Meanwhile, the second semi-final will see European champions Spain take on France on Thursday.
Founded in 2018, Portugal, France and Spain are the three countries who have won the UEFA Nations League title.
Portugal won the maiden edition in the 2018/2019 season after edging out The Netherlands 1-0 in the final.
The French were crowned champions in the 2020/2021 campaign thanks to a 2-1 triumph over Spain.
Then the Spaniard won the final of the 2022/2023 season, a 5-4 penalty shootout win against Croatia after regulation and extra-time ended 0-0.
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