Help Portugal qualify for the UEFA Nations League final! Is Ronaldo expected to break a 4-year title drought?

Written by Han Bing Cristiano Ronaldo has not achieved many goals in his career, and beating Germany is one of them. In the UEFA Nations League semi-finals at the Allianz Stadium in Munich last night, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a reversal in the second half to end his five-game losing streak against Germany with Portugal. Portugal reached the final of the Nations League for the second time after 2019. And this is also the 13th time that Ronaldo has attacked the first official competition championship trophy of his "Saudi career" after joining Riyadh Victory in early 2023.

The UEFA Nations League semi-final was held at Allianz Munich in Bayern Munich, with hosts Germany aiming to win. The high-profile Cristiano Ronaldo had a lot of disturbances before the game, with a sudden storm and hail causing the game to be postponed for 10 minutes, and there were young fans rushing to the field to try to take photos with him before the game. In addition, the fate of Cristiano Ronaldo's victory in Riyadh is still undecided, he refused to play in the Club World Cup in Riyadh Crescent on loan, and the renewal of his contract with Riyadh Victory is still under negotiation. However, Ronaldo was in a good mood, and before the game, he and his Portuguese teammates congratulated the Portuguese U17 national junior team who had just won the U17 European Junior Championship.

This UEFA Nations League semi-final victory was defined by the Portuguese media as an "epic reversal". Portugal had suffered five defeats in a row against Germany, with their last win coming 3-0 in the group stage of Euro 2000. The last meeting between the two teams was in the group stage of Euro 2021, also at the Allianz Arena in Munich, where Germany won 4-2. Portugal's last away win over Germany was 40 years ago, in October 1985, when the Five Shields won 1-0 in Stuttgart.

Germany scored first in the second half: in the 48th minute of the second half, Kimmich, who made his 100th appearance for Germany, picked up a cross in front of the penalty area, and Wirtz scored with a header in front of the box. However, the Portuguese players protested that Germany were suspected of offside, and VAR intervened to show that Wirtz, who was inserted in the back, was not offside.

The turning point of the game was in the 57th minute when Vitinha, Conceição Jr. and Semedo were replaced, and Vitinha, who had just won the Champions League trophy, completely controlled the midfield. In the 63rd minute, Conceição scored the equalizer from the far corner after winning the ball diagonally from the right side of the penalty area, and Portugal won the most recent victory over Germany 25 years ago. It was his father, Conceição Sr., who scored a hat-trick. Five minutes later, Cristiano Ronaldo received a cross from Paris left-back Nuno Mendes and outflanked the score in front of goal.

This is Ronaldo's 137th goal for the Portuguese national team, continuing to break his own world record for the number of goals scored by the national team, 25 more than second place Messi. It was Cristiano Ronaldo's fourth goal in a semi-final of a major international tournament after scoring a pass against the Netherlands in the semi-finals of Euro 2004. His goals in all four semi-finals helped Portugal reach the final, including a pass against Wales in the Euro 2016 semi-final and a hat-trick against Switzerland in the 2019 semi-final, giving Portugal a chance to challenge for a second UEFA Nations League title. Cristiano Ronaldo's last 18 games have won all of Portugal's goals, and he is not only the captain of the Portuguese team, but also the lucky star of the victory.

It was also Ronaldo's 937th career goal, including 800 for club and 137 for the national team, one step closer to the 1,000-goal mark. After the game, teammate B said that Ronaldo's physical condition exceeds 95% of Europe's top league strikers, and he is still an indispensable core of the Portuguese team. Although the 40-year-old Ronaldo's physical fitness and condition cannot be compared with his peak, the 30-year-old Ronaldo still scored 85 goals in the Portuguese national team. The national team surpassed Hungary's Puskas in the scoring rankings, and tied for seventh place with Poland's Lewandowski and the United Arab Emirates' Mabuhut.

After the final whistle, Ronaldo hugged his team-mates one by one, especially Conceição, who scored the equaliser. In August 2003, Ronaldo began his Portuguese national team career, just past Conceição's father. Cristiano Ronaldo, who was originally selected for the Portugal national team during the international break in September of that year, ended up playing with the Under-21 national youth team and missed the opportunity to compete with Conceição Sr. Time flies, the 50-year-old Conceição is already a famous coach who has coached Porto and Milan, but Ronaldo is still galloping on the field.

Compared with the goal record, Ronaldo values the trophy more. This is the fourth time in the history of the Portuguese team to enter the final of the major competition, in addition to the 2004 European Championship at home, the 2016 European Cup, the 2019 UEFA Nations League Cristiano Ronaldo won the championship with the team. After joining Riyadh Victory in 2023, Ronaldo has failed to win the championship 11 times at the club, and lost to France on penalties in the national team's Euro 2024 to stop in the top 8. Coupled with the untitled journey of joining Manchester United for the second time, Cristiano Ronaldo has been 4 years since he last won the championship (2021 Coppa Italia), and in the final on June 8, can the Portuguese king end his championship drought?