SAN FRANCISCO, November 12, (THEWILL) –Â Portugal turned out an impressive scoring game as Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Pedro Neto and Braga forward Paulinho scored on their debuts while Renato Sanches impressed and Cristiano Ronaldo scored in a 7-0 rout of Andorra.
Handed his first international outing in Wednesday’s friendly at Estadio da Luz, it took only eight minutes for Neto to grab his debut goal. The Wolves youngster slammed home on the half volley after Porto’s Sergio Oliveira and Paulinho combined.
Sanches of Lille went close with a low long-range strike which was saved by Andorra keeper Josep Gomes, who was then beaten for a second time when he failed to keep out Paulinho’s toe-poke in the 29th minute.
Ronaldo should have done better after coming on as a half-time substitute, with the Juventus star heading over from close range. But, he turned up an assist for Portugal’s third goal after 56 minutes, teeing up Sanches to sweep in a strike that opened the floodgates.
Paulinho’s brilliant header from a typical Napoli’s Mario Rui’s cross put Portugal four up just after the hour mark, before Ronaldo wasted a chance by looping over.
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Ronaldo thought he had assisted in another goal when he bundled it through to Betis midfielder William Carvalho, but the offside flag cut the celebrations short. Portugal got their fifth five minutes later when defender Emil Garcia diverted Bernardo Silva’s cross beyond Gomes into his own net.
After missing another gilt-edged chance, Ronaldo finally had his goal when he headed in from point-blank range in the 85th minute, with fellow substitute Joao Felix wrapping things up in the 88th minute.
Portugal will face a sterner task when they host France in the Nations League on Saturday, before they travel to Croatia three days later as they continue to play in defence of their Nations League title.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
