Portugal got better of the South American world cup runner-up by 1-0 as Old Trafford celebrated the homecoming of Cristiano Ronaldo. The encounter did not turn out to be a high-quality one for both the teams looked off the sorts last night.
Old Trafford was expecting a real fight between the former number 7 at Old Trafford and the present one, but they were somewhat disappointed by their shows as they could not live up to their expectations. Di Maria displayed some of his tricks while Ronaldo failed to put up something special in front of a crowd which was eager to watch him at his best. Also the fact that Ronaldo did not get much of the support from his colleagues contributed much to his rather dismal performance. None-the-less he tried his best to carry Portugal on his shoulders almost single-handedly. Lionel Messi, who was also there in the argentine colours, did not do justice to his reputation and was booed right from the very beginning.
Source: AP
In the end, all the personal battles were brought to an end when Raphael Guerreiro’s caught the argentine defense napping and broke the deadlock in the dying minutes of the match. Argentina defense otherwise hold tight and never give any clear opportunity to the Portuguese but could not prevent the defeat. It was a match in which the Argentines played well, in fact better than the Portuguese, but they did not have anything to show for that. Also the limelight was snatched away by the young man Raphael Guerreiro whose name was perhaps unknown to many of the Portuguese supporters.
It was also a homecoming for one of the former Red Devils- Luis Nani. But it did not turn out be a great one as he looked wayward and lacked the precision that could have earned the attention of the Old Trafford crowd amidst all the superstars.
Tags: Argentina Cristiano Ronaldo FIFA football Portugal
