Portugal's Euro 2024 campaign is up and running – with a little help from some haphazard Czech defending.
It's come from the strangest of places, too. Few gave Francisco Conceicao much hope of changing the game – least of all Danny Murphy, who said he couldn't change the game in such little time after coming on as a sub – but the Porto attacker managed to poke home the winner in stoppage time.
Seriously though, look at the defending. Why is the Czech Republic defender trying to stop the ball with a knee-slide? Robin Hranac was duly nutmegged, leaving Conceicao to score. The keeper, meanwhile, is flapping about like nobody's business. The strangest goal of the tournament thus far? For us, yes.
It took a long time for this one to ignite. Totally against the run of play, Lukas Provod gave the Czechs the lead with another of Euro 2024’s long-range rockets – accompanied by a fantastic knee-slide, as Ronaldo fumed to himself over the missed chances at the other end.
The lead lasted mere minutes, however. Portugal struck back through the third own goal of the tournament, a messy mix-up between goalkeeper and centre-back, to peg the Czech Republic back. These moments – one of magic, one of madness – were two of very few notable ones in an otherwise drab affair up until the final five minutes, in which Diogo Jota had a goal chalked off for a Ronaldo offside.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, made headlines at kick-off for becoming the first player to appear at six European Championships.
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