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In their first home game without Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal defeated Norway 2-1 this Sunday and became the first team to qualify for the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals, where Germany complicated their own advancement by drawing goalless against Greece.
The Portuguese star returned to Saudi Arabia this Sunday after leaving the defending champions' training camp amidst disagreements with the Portuguese coach, Jorge Jesus.
The Portuguese coach left his explanations regarding the case for after the match against Erling Haaland's Norway in Porto.
The victory guaranteed Portugal's passage to the quarterfinals with a perfect twelve points in Group 4 of League A, followed by Denmark with six points. The Danes defeated Wales 1-0 this Sunday, who remain with three, and the Norwegians round out the group with one point.
Despite qualifying, the name of Cristiano Ronaldo continues to hover over the Portuguese team, as demonstrated in the subsequent press conference, in which Jorge Jesus received more questions about the player than about the match.
"Cristiano? He will be called up for the next international window. If he wants to, he will return with us. We can talk before the next call-up, but it is Cris who will decide," the coach summarized.
- Comeback with goals from Cancelo and Ramos -
Earlier, in Porto, the Nordics took the lead with a goal from Kristoffer Ajer (36'), but the hosts equalized through João Cancelo (38') and completed the comeback with a goal from Gonçalo Ramos (79'), the man who has taken CR7's place at the tip of the Portuguese attack.
Norwegian star Erling Haaland was very quiet all night and barely intervened in the play.
In Thessaloniki, Jürgen Klopp's Germany played better than Greece in several phases, especially in the first half.
Ester Expósito conquista la Semana de la Moda de París con vestido lencero braless y joyería de lujo
But the German forwards' lack of accuracy and the VAR, which disallowed a goal before halftime, prevented Die Mannschaft from taking all three points.
At the start of the Klopp era, with four games played, Germany has only won one match and drawn two. With five points, the Germans are three points behind the two leaders of Group 2, the Netherlands and Greece.
- Xavi reacts with substitutions -
In the November international window, Die Mannschaft will have to win in Serbia and risk everything at home against the Netherlands.
In Eindhoven, meanwhile, the local team coached by Xavi Hernández played a great first half-hour and took the lead with a goal from Teun Koopmeiners (31').
But from that moment on, they lost control of the game and not only did Serbia manage to equalize, with a goal from Mihajlo Cvetkovic (35'), but they had numerous chances to score.
The changes introduced by Xavi from the hour mark allowed Oranje to regain command of the match and take the lead again, with a goal from Joshua Zirkzee (71'), one of those who came on after the break.
Serbia finished in the Dutch area, but without the reward of having taken at least one point.
- Black armbands -
Another of the matches that had attracted newsworthy interest was Ireland-Israel, and not precisely for sporting reasons.
The match was hosted by Ireland, a country that has numerous defenders of the Palestinian cause, and it ended in a one-goal draw.
But it was played for security reasons in the Serbian town of Backa Topola, one week after their clash in Debrecen, Hungary.
This double clash was surrounded by a lot of tension between the two countries.
On Sunday, the Israeli players wore an armband with the date 7-10 in memory of the Hamas attack in which nearly 400 Israelis were killed during a music festival in 2023.
The offensive gave way, in response, to Israel's bombings in Gaza in which more than 74,000 people have died since then.
[Publicidad]