Portugal shoots Germany from the Nations League

Eternal Cristiano Ronaldo destroyed the dream of the German national soccer team from the first Nation League title with his 137th goal for Portugal. With a double strike by Super-Joker Francisco Conceicao (63rd minute) and the 40-year-old captain Ronaldo (68th) Portugal shocked the DFB selection around jubilee Joshua Kimmich in the rapid 1: 2 (0-0) in the semi-finals.

In the sold -out Munich stadium, Florian Wirtz initially seemed to have brought the team of national coach Julian Nagelsmann to the winning road in the 48th minute. The Leverpool, who was in front of a mega transfer to FC Leverpool, was successful with his head for the first time after a fine chipball of captain Joshua Kimmich in his 100th international.

In the end, however, Ronaldo was again the man of the evening with his premiere victory against Germany. For the DFB team, it was the first defeat since the quarter-finals against Spain at the home European Championships 2024.

Instead of the National League trophy, the DFB team, which is not effective in front, now has to play for third place on Sunday (3 p.m.) in Stuttgart against European champions Spain or the World Cup second in France. In the final phase, Marc-André Ter Stegen from his comeback in the DFB goal with two parades in a row.

The kick -off to the game was postponed by ten minutes because a storm in the meantime controlled the warm -up program. Shortly after the goalkeepers around Marc-André Ter Stegen had entered the lawn for the warm-up, they had to flee back into the cabin in front of the thunderstorm with large hailstormers. The storm quickly moved on and the Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic released the place.

“We all burn on it, even if it is just a step. But it should be a step,” Nagelsmann said about the meaning of the game before the kick -off on ZDF. The national coach offered a defense chain with the Frankfurt Robin Koch in a central position. The tactical idea should have been to compress the center against the strong Portuguese.

However, this only worked to a limited extent in the early minutes, especially when switching with their variable position game, the guests were dangerous. The now 40-year-old Ronaldo came to two chances in his 220th international game early (7th and 15th minute).

After a quarter of an hour, the DFB team built up more pressure on the opponent and came to the first good chances. Debütant Nick Woltemade (19th) and Leon Goretzka (21st) failed within a very short time at the brilliantly parrying goalkeeper Diogo Costa. Kimmich, who was honored for his anniversary game before the kick -off, made a lot of operation on the right side. The captain also led his teammates verbally.

However, coordination problems were repeatedly recognized by many failures such as that of exceptional Jamal Musiala. Stuttgart’s shooting star Woltemade worked a lot, but did not always choose the right route. Wirtz was guarded extremely closely by the Portuguese and did not initially develop.

In the German defensive, Koch initially convinced Koch as a prudent defensive chief – and not only in his class defense campaign in the penalty area in the highest need against Pedro Neto (33.). The Portuguese, in which the two freshly elected Champions League winners Vitinha and Goncalo Ramos were missing, remained dangerous for counterattacks.

The first dangerous chance after the change of sides again had Ronaldo, who after a cross from outside only easily reached the ball with the tip of the foot and thereby missed the gate (47th). This was preceded by a playback error by Jonathan Tah.

It looked like a wake -up call for the German team, which only took the lead a minute later. The hit was not collected even after a Var check, the light block of Woltemade against Rúben Dias was compliant.

In view of the deficit, Portuguese acted much more active with the substitute Vitinha. Ter Stegen, who kept the German goal after nine months of international break due to a serious knee injury, was much more on the focus. When compensation by the Conceicaoo Per Schlenzer in the far corner, the Barça professional had no chance. The substitute Robin Gosens, who was also substituted, had escaped the goal scorer on the left defense.

The German defensive also looked indisposed in the second goal. After an outstanding double pass from Bruno Fernandes and Nuno Mendes, Ronaldo only had to hold his foot for his 137th international goal. After that, the guests were more dangerous, Conceicao missed his second goal only by a few centimeters (82nd). In return, Karim Adeyemi only hit the outer post. Later, Ter Stegen was able to distinguish himself a few times.