At 22:00 "Geoffroy Guichard" stadium, the first round of the group stage of the 2016 European Championship concluded. The evening was crowned by the match between the national teams of Portugal and Iceland in Group F.
The first match of Group F ended unexpectedly with Austria losing to Hungary. The favorites of this group, the Portuguese, also finished the match with an unexpected result - Fernando Santos' players played to a 1-1 draw with Iceland, a team with fewer residents than Vilnius.
Starting lineups:
Portugal: Rui Patricio, Vierinha, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Raphael Guerreiro, Danilo, Moutinho, Andre Gomes, Nani, Joao Maria, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Iceland: Halldorsson, Saevarsson, R. Sigurdsson, Arnason, Skulason, A. Gunnarsson, G. Sigurdsson, Gudmundsson, Bjarnason, Bodvarsson, Sigthorsson.
The match began with open football. Both the Portuguese and the Icelanders had several quick attacks towards each other's goals in the first two minutes, but failed to score quickly. Gylfi Sigurdsson took a dangerous shot, but goalkeeper Rui Patricia was superior in this episode.
Later the game calmed down a bit. The Portuguese, led by Fernando Santos, took control of the ball, but did not create any scoring opportunities. In the 17th minute, after a great pass from Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani headed the ball at goal, but Hannes Halldorsson reacted superbly to it.
In the 31st minute, the Icelandic defense could no longer withstand the Portuguese attacks. Andre Gomes played a great pass to Vierinha, who left Nani unmarked in the penalty area, and he directed the ball into the opponent's goal.
During the remaining time, the Portuguese continued to dominate with the ball. Nevertheless, Fernando Santos' players could not find any gaps in the Icelandic defense and after the first 45 minutes led with a minimal advantage.
The beginning of the second half saw an active game by the Portuguese national team again. However, in the 51st minute, the Portuguese defense fell asleep and Birkir Bjarnason, completely unmarked, scored the equalizing goal after a great pass from his teammate.
After the equalizing goal, the Portuguese attacks became more intense, but they failed to regain the advantage with a quick goal.
As time passed, F. Santos decided to strengthen the offense. He sent in young Renato Sanchez and Ricardo Quaresma. After their entrance, the Portuguese attack became more active, but the second goal did not come against the debutant Icelandic team.
In the 85th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo had a good chance to score, but Halldorsson reacted to his header. However, after this attack, the Icelanders launched a counter-attack and forced Rui Patricio to work hard, as he had to block a strong shot from the opponent.
In the remainder of the game, the Portuguese failed to score a winning goal, leading to one of the biggest surprises in the European championship - Iceland took points from Portugal.
Result:
Portugal 1 - 1 Iceland
31' [1 - 0] Nani
50' [1 - 1] B. Bjarnason
The best player of the match was recognized as the goal scorer for the Portuguese team, Nani.
The game's top tackler and second-best interceptor was Iceland's defensive player, Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Group F standings:
1. Hungary: 3 points (1 win)
2. Portugal: 1 point (1 draw)
3. Iceland: 1 point (1 draw)
4. Austria: 0 points (1 loss)
