The absence of Cristiano Ronaldo had no impact on Portugal’s complete dominance over the Nigerian Super Eagles in their friendly match today.
The time it took Portugal to regain possession of the ball and take control of the game was rather short. In the ninth minute, Fernandes scored for Portugal after his Manchester United teammate Diogo Dalot passed the ball to him inside the penalty area.
When continuing their control of the first half, the home team was awarded a fortuitous penalty kick in the 35th minute following a handball by Nigeria’s Bright Osayi-Samuel. Fernandes sent Uzoho the wrong way to extend Portugal’s lead.
The second half was mostly quiet, but it came to life in the closing 10 minutes. In the 81st minute, Dalot gave away a penalty after fouling Samuel, but having been brought on in the 76th minute, Emmanuel Dennis’ could not guide his spot-kick through Rui Patricio. A minute later, Ramos scored on his Portugal debut with an easy tap-in before setting up Mario for Portugal’s fourth and final goal to end the game.
Portugal’s road to the Qatar 2022 World Cup would begin on November 24, 2022, with a match against Ghana’s Black Stars, followed by matches against Uruguay four days later and South Korea on December 2, 2022. The Super Eagles of Nigeria will play Guinea-Bissau in an African Cup of Nations qualification on March 20, 2023.