{"id":781572,"date":"2026-09-24T23:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/781572\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T23:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:12:12","slug":"joao-felix-strike-for-portugal-enough-to-sink-wales-but-ronaldo-fever-falls-flat-nations-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/781572\/","title":{"rendered":"Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix strike for Portugal enough to sink Wales but Ronaldo fever falls flat | Nations League"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a comic-strip feel to another eventful evening in the kingdom of Cristiano Ronaldo. Where to start? It was the 67th minute when his No 7 went up on the fourth official\u2019s board, the cue to remove the captain\u2019s armband from his left bicep before departing to a universal ovation, but for the pocket of Wales<\/a> supporters.<\/p>\n

The referee, Donatas Rumsas, hurried him off the pitch but Ronaldo, his hair glazed copper, was presumably ruminating on a series of missed chances, a sitter from a few yards at the start of the second half, and his disallowed goal, after skating offside to latch on to a Bruno Fernandes pass. The grandiose \u201cSiu\u201d celebration went to waste, though try telling that to the locals who worship him.<\/p>\n

In the end, Portugal began their defence of the Nations League<\/a> with a narrow victory courtesy of another Al-Nassr forward, Jo\u00e3o Felix\u2019s deflected first-half strike from the edge of the box beating Danny Ward in goal.<\/p>\n

Many of the Wales squad have been lightly raced of late, but they could have snatched a late equaliser when Brennan Johnson hit the crossbar and R\u00faben Dias desperately denied Lewis Koumas, who again impressed Craig Bellamy. For Wales, this was an exhaustive physical effort and afterwards the head coach, citing his own experiences as a player, referenced how mentally sapping games against elite opposition can prove. \u201cI needed an ice pack on my head,\u201d Bellamy said.<\/p>\n

All eyes were on Ronaldo, back playing in Lisbon for the first time since last October, at the Jos\u00e9 Alvalade Stadium where he made his name as a teenager. The 41-year-old started, as Jorge Jesus promised he would, and despite Ronaldo talking of a new era, different tactics and even a different language, alluding to Jesus\u2019s predecessor Roberto Mart\u00ednez, this all felt rather run of the mill.<\/p>\n

R\u00faben Neves, another player in Saudi, replacing Jo\u00e3o Neves in Portugal\u2019s three-man midfield was the only change from their World Cup last-16 exit<\/a> by Spain in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo finished with 27 touches, the fewest of any of Portugal\u2019s outfield starters, and looked to the heavens after fluffing the best of the hosts\u2019 chances to extend their lead four minutes into the second half.<\/p>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo sends a shot wide on a night when good fortune in front of goal eluded him. Photograph: Miguel Lemos\/Eurasia Sport Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Neves put in a delicious cross from the right flank but Ronaldo, unmarked and alone with his thoughts in the six-yard box, shanked the ball over off his left shin. Sunday\u2019s visit to Norway is his next opportunity to edge towards his 1,000 goals target. \u201cI took him out 25 minutes before the end, because I thought it was important to have a fresh player on the pitch,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cI knew that Cris could stay a little longer, five or 10 minutes, but I was going to take him out anyway, I had planned it.\u201d In a previous answer, he added: \u201cSome players who are important were not up to their quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus, who twice managed Benfica and spent three years here in charge of Sporting, knows all about Ronaldo, having spent last season coaching him at Al-Nassr and defended the striker on the eve of this game, describing him as a symbol of Portugal. It is hard to disagree on that front. Ronaldo-mania is omnipresent in Lisbon, chiefly inside the official Portugal stores in Pra\u00e7a da Figueira, the city\u2019s downtown, where you can buy CR7-branded briefs, face masks, action figures, lanyards, Lego, and even a Ronaldo boxset celebrating his time at Sporting.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |Every weekday<\/p>\n

Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bellamy accepted Wales would suffer against a starting XI boasting five Champions League winners and three Ballon d\u2019Or nominees, but began confidently. Bellamy does not have the same quality at his disposal, with Harry Wilson, Wales\u2019s best performer in recent years, and Karl Darlow, these days the undisputed No 1, among those absent through injury. A harmless Ben Cabango header was Wales\u2019s sole effort at goal in the first half and they did not trouble Diogo Costa. \u201cHe practically didn\u2019t have to touch the ball,\u201d Jesus said of his goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo spurned four decent chances in the first half alone, the best of which was from about 12 yards and left him scuffing his boots in frustration. Then, after a predictably excitable buildup, there was a free-kick flighted into Wales\u2019s yellow wall. He should have done better when Fernandes presented him with his first opening amid huge cheers from the locals, but his touch was rusty and the ball bobbled off his left foot, and he later volleyed wide from an awkward angle.<\/p>\n

Wales were valiant. Jay Dasilva was excellent at left-back. Ben Davies, a Wales centurion and always a dependable performer for his country, marshalled the defence on his second appearance of the season, his only minutes for Tottenham coming against a Charlton B team in the Carabao Cup. Ward\u2019s sole appearance was in the same competition for Wrexham six weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Portugal racked up 23 shots but recorded only five on target and Wales will take plenty of confidence from this slender defeat. \u201cI\u2019m fully aware of who we were playing and what their value is,\u201d Bellamy said, claiming the value of Portugal\u2019s squad totals \u00a31.4bn. \u201cBut the positive I\u2019m coming away with is: I think there\u2019s more [to come from us]. I\u2019m beyond proud. We showed a big heart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a comic-strip feel to another eventful evening in the kingdom of Cristiano Ronaldo. Where to start?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-781572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}