Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winner as Portugal fought back to beat Germany 2-1 on Wednesday and reach the Nations League final.
Ronaldo became the oldest player to ever score against Germany while ending his “curse” against the country. The former Real Madrid star lost each of the previous five games he’d played against Germany, while Portugal hadn’t beaten the 2014 World Cup champions since 2000.
Germany dominated the first half, but it remained goalless thanks to the heroics of Portugal keeper Diogo Costa.
The shotstopper made an excellent start to the first half, keeping out a low shot from Germany’s Leon Goretzka after four minutes with a strong save.
Costa came to Portugal’s rescue again with an incredible save from Nick Woltemade’s close-range effort and two minutes later, he produced another quick reaction stop, diving low to tip away another attempt from Goretzka.
Germany took the lead in the 48th minute, as Florian Wirtz headed in unmarked in the box, following a pinpoint lobbed pass from Joshua Kimmich.
However, Portugal turned the match around, first equalizing through substitute Francisco Conceição in the 63rd minute.
Then Ronaldo, 40, captained Portugal and scored his 137th international goal five minutes after substitute Conceição had made it 1-1.
For Conceicao, the win carried extra significance, as his father Sergio scored a hat trick the last time Portugal beat Germany — at the European Championship in 2000.
“We need to enjoy the victory — we won for the first time in a while against Germany,” said Portugal coach Roberto Martinez. “Tactically we were exceptional and our commitment helped. It was a team victory.
“Now we can recover and evaluate. We want another performance with personality in this shirt.”
Germany looked to shift the momentum when substitute Karim Adeyemi unleashed a powerful rising strike with his left foot, only to see it crash against the outside of Costa’s right-hand post.
Vitinha excelled as Portugal finished the game in the ascendancy just four days after he helped Paris Saint-Germain win the Champions League final against Inter Milan in the same stadium on Saturday.
Germany goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen made several great saves down the stretch to prevent the visitors from scoring any more.
PSG wing backs João Neves and Nuno Mendes both started for Portugal, while Stuttgart forward Nick Woltemade started for his Germany debut.
Conceição needed only five minutes to make a mark with a brilliant long-range strike inside the far post after he surged past Robin Gosens like the defender wasn’t there. Mendes gave Ronaldo a simple finish five minutes after that.
“It could have been more,” Mendes said.
It was a disappointing 100th appearance for Germany captain Kimmich.
“The defeat is absolutely deserved,” Kimmich said. “We weren’t playing well enough in the first half. After going 1-0 up, nothing came of it in the second half.”
Spain and France will clash in the other semifinal in Stuttgart on Thursday to determine who will face Portugal, who won the inaugural edition of the Nations League in 2019, in the decider on Sunday.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this story.
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