Chapter 747: The Battle for First Place

After Manchester United defeated Newcastle in an away game and won eight consecutive league games at the start of the season, international football entered the second national team match day of the new season. Bruno also returned to the Portuguese national team to compete in the group stage of the European Cup next year.

On the evening of October 11, the Portuguese national team played against Luxembourg at home.

In Bruno's impression, Luxembourg is a country that cannot be smaller, with an area of ​​less than 2,600 square kilometers, which is only equivalent to an ordinary county in China. The population of more than 600,000 is also only equivalent to the level of an ordinary county in China.

However, such a small country is a highly developed capitalist country with a small country and rich people. Its per capita GDP has ranked among the top three in the world for many years. Whether it is China or Portugal, they are far behind Luxembourg in this data.

As for football, Luxembourg is also a well-known underdog team in the world football.

Looking at Luxembourg's past record, you can count their wins with two hands. Luxembourg, known as the Red Lions, has only won 8 games in 142 World Cup qualifiers since 1934, and the record of the other 134 games is 10 draws and 124 losses. The qualifying matches since the start of the 1964 European Cup were also bumpy, with only 8 wins in 117 games, and 11 draws and 98 losses in the remaining 109 games.

Such a number of wins is not even as good as the largest number of goals conceded in a single game in the history of the national team (0:10).

For Luxembourg, it is a rare thing to draw with the opponent in an official game. It is a veritable European underdog.

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This is the 16th match between Portugal and Luxembourg in history. Portugal has previously won 13 games, 1 draw and 1 loss. Luxembourg's only victory was in 1961, 58 years ago. Don't talk about Bruno, even his parents were not born at that time.

What surprised Bruno a little was that Luxembourg was not the worst team in the group, nor the lowest in the group. They defeated another weak team, Lithuania, in the first round of the group stage and won a victory. They are currently ranked second from the bottom in the group.

Their world ranking is currently 93rd, which is higher than Lithuania's 131st.

However, even so, Bruno still didn't have much interest in Luxembourg. Although he started and played the whole game, he hardly participated in the team's offense. He just played the role of an offensive and defensive hub in the midfield, using passes to organize Portugal's offense.

Apart from Bruno, other Portuguese players also had little interest in going all out in the game.

But even so, Portugal still won a 3:0 victory at home. Bernardo Silva, Ronaldo and Guedes each scored a goal. Bruno assisted Guedes, who came on as a substitute, with a corner kick and contributed an assist.

However, three days later, Bruno and Portugal encountered a tough battle.

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On the evening of October 14, the Portuguese national team visited the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv to challenge Ukraine.

In the current group standings, both teams have 15 points, but Portugal has one less game and ranks first in the group with a goal difference advantage over Ukraine.

Since Serbia, which ranks third in the group, currently has only 6 points, and Serbia is at a disadvantage in the matches against Portugal and Ukraine, and has a much smaller goal difference than the two teams, the top two in this group are basically determined, and Serbia can basically only compete with Luxembourg for the third place in the group and participate in the play-offs.

In fact, as long as Portugal and Ukraine play 0:0 in this game, the two teams can advance together.

However, in the game held at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv, the two sides fought very fiercely, and there was no intention of playing tacit football at all.

Santos was also well prepared for this game.

Three days ago, he rotated in the match with Luxembourg to conserve his physical strength and fully prepare for this tough battle with Ukraine.

Both sides made full preparations for this game. Santos rotated in the match against Luxembourg and kept the main players for this game. Ukraine sent out all the main players. Shevchenko arranged a 4141 formation. The goalkeeper was Piatov, the central defenders were the combination of Matveenko and Krivtsov, the right back was Karavayev, the left back was Mykolenko, the single defensive midfielder Stepanlenko, the midfielders were Malinovsky, Martos, Zinchenko and Yarmolenko, and the single striker was Yarimchuk.

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The game was very intense. Both sides could be said to be fighting for every inch of land, and the scene of people falling down and horses falling down appeared from time to time.

In the first half of the game, Guedes on the Portuguese side was injured by a shovel and had to be replaced. Felix came on as a substitute.

Portugal also quickly responded. Martos was injured and replaced by Konoplyanka.

Ukraine, determined to take revenge, was in good shape. They scored first in the first half. Stepanlenko made a diagonal pass into the penalty area, Krivtsov's header from the edge of the small penalty area was barely saved, and Yaremchuk made a close-range shot into the net.

The score in the first half was 1:0, with the home team Ukraine leading.

During the entire halftime break, the Kyiv Olympic Stadium was filled with noise, and Ukrainian fans were very satisfied with the first half. However, less than five minutes into the second half, Portugal equalized the score.

This was a free kick opportunity for Portugal in the frontcourt. Bruno and Bernardo Silva stood in front of the ball. Bruno pretended to shoot directly after a run-up, but ran past the ball. Bernardo Silva followed up and hoisted the ball into the penalty area. Ronaldo jumped high in the penalty area and headed the ball over Krivtsov to equalize the score for Portugal.

However, when the game reached the 71st minute, Ukraine once again surpassed the score.

Mikolenko made a cross from the left, and Yarmolenko, who was unguarded, pushed the ball into the net from 10 yards. For this ball, Portuguese goalkeeper Patricio had no way to deal with it. 2:1, the home team Ukraine surpassed the score.

Deafening cheers rang out in the Kyiv Olympic Stadium.

Ukrainian fans seemed to want to vent all the frustration of being bloodbathed by Portugal 3:0 in the first round of the group stage.

The entire Kyiv Olympic Stadium was like an earthquake, and the floor was shaking.

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The live camera gave Santos a special shot. The Portuguese coach had a gloomy expression. It was obvious that the unfavorable situation on the field made him feel very bad.

"It seems that Portugal's situation today is not good. Maybe their unbeaten record will be broken today." Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray said in the commentary booth.

"Ukraine performed very well today. Santos and Portugal are in big trouble." Martin Taylor said.

Santos couldn't hear what the commentator said. Even if he heard it, he wouldn't pay much attention. He was definitely not concerned about the unbeaten record being broken. He was thinking about how to turn the tables and win the game!

Although the score is behind now, Santos' goal is not to equalize the score, but to win.

Yes, Santos doesn't care about the unbeaten record. He just wants to win the game. He doesn't care about any false reputation.

Santos is considering a countermeasure. At this time, on the court, Ukraine's full-back Karavayev faced Bruno's dribbling breakthrough. He suffered a loss in speed. Seeing that he couldn't catch up with Bruno, he reached out and pulled the opponent down.

Santos' eyes lit up, and he had an idea.

"Let Bruma warm up." Santos said to his assistant Val.

The latter was obviously stunned for a moment, then looked at Santos in surprise, and after getting confirmation, he hurried to inform Bruma to warm up.

"We still have time, we can't give up the game." Val advised when Bruma was warming up.

"Who said I want to give up the game?" Santos asked back.

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Born in late October 1994, Bruma's real name is Armindo Tue Na Bonya, nicknamed Bruma. In fact, his age is not young, and he will usher in his 25th birthday in 10 days.

Moreover, Bruma became famous very early. He played in the 2013 Toulon Cup and the Turkey World Youth Championship with Bruno, and performed very well. He was one of the heroes of the Portuguese national youth team winning the 2013 Toulon Cup and the World Youth Championship. As a result, he was favored by the Turkish Super League giant Galatasaray and joined Galatasaray at a sky-high price of 13 million euros in the summer of 2013.

However, after starting professional football, Bruma's development was not too smooth. In the past six years, he has been to Galatasaray, Real Sociedad, Leipzig Red Bull and PSV Eindhoven, and he is not the absolute main force of the team.

In the group stage of the UEFA Nations League last year, Bruma finally made his debut for the Portuguese national team. He played 3 times during the entire UEFA Nations League, but he did not score or assist, and his performance was very mediocre.

In the current European Cup qualifiers, Bruma was selected again, but he has never had a chance to play, and can only be regarded as a marginal international player of the Portuguese national team.

It is precisely because of this that when Val learned that Santos was going to send Bruma to play, he thought that Santos was going to give up the game.

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While Bruma was warming up on the sidelines, Santos also adjusted the lineup on the field.

Bernardo Silva's position was moved to the front line, forming a double striker with Ronaldo, while Bruno moved to the right midfielder position and Felix went to the left.

The double striker configuration soon took effect. Ronaldo played a fulcrum role in the frontcourt. With his involvement, Bernardo Silva gained more space on the front line.

At the same time, due to Bernardo Silva's running involvement, it also helped Ronaldo attract the opponent's defensive attention.

In addition, Felix also began to be active on the left, coupled with Guerrero, who has a strong assist ability, Portugal's current offense can be said to be seriously tilted to the left.

The pressure on Ukraine's right back Karavayev suddenly increased, forcing other Ukrainian players to come to support the defense, which directly caused Ukraine's defense line to be pressed to one side.