Cristiano Ronaldo sat with downcast eyes on the lawn of the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. Portugal’s captain shook his head and threw the captain’s bow on the floor. The Iberians lost the World Cup ticket with the 1: 2 in a direct duel with Serbia and have to go to the play-off.
“Football has shown us time and time again that sometimes the most difficult ways lead to the best results. The result was tough, but not enough to get us down,” wrote Ronaldo on Instagram. Portugal is set in the play-off and thus a possible Austria opponent.
Serbia celebrated Aleksandar Mitrovic, who bought the World Cup ticket with a 2-1 in the 93rd minute. A year ago he had awarded in the play-off for participation in the European Championship against Scotland on penalties. The 27-year-old is now Serbia’s all-time high scorer with 44 goals in 69 games. Mitrovic: “We have a great atmosphere in the team, the best I can remember. And I’ve been with it for a long time.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic also has to take the detour via the play-off with Sweden because the decisive duel in Seville against Spain was lost 1-0. Alvaro Morata scored the gold goal. At the EM in the summer, the attacker was whistled in the same place because of missed opportunities. “Fate was kind to me. It had to be here where I had one of the toughest experiences,” said the 29-year-old. Team boss Luis Enrique breathed a sigh of relief: “We only did what we should do.”
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