European Qualifiers, Serbia 2-4 Portugal: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis

#4 Guedes and Ronaldo’s movement causes problems for Serbia

Ronaldo was brilliant for Portugal

Fernando Santos deployed a 4-3-3 system at the outset with Bernardo, Guedes and Ronaldo featuring as the front three. However, the Portuguese sprung a surprise as the Juventus forward played through the middle, as opposed to starting on the left.

The switch meant that Guedes was entrusted with manning the flank and he did so adroitly. Though he didn’t enjoy a great first half, he sparked into life in the second period. He dovetailed superbly with Ronaldo and constantly picked up passes in the channels between the defenders.

After receiving the ball on one such instance, he left Nikola Maksimovic for dead before firing the ball past the goalkeeper.

As for the Portuguese skipper, he dropped deep, dragged defenders onto him and then spread passes across the pitch. Thus, ensuring that the Serbian defence was out of shape and that created gaps in the defensive line.

Ronaldo got the goal his performance deserved when he ran onto a perfectly-weighted through ball from Bernardo and dinked the ball over the onrushing Marko Dmitrovic.

At times on Saturday, Portugal were guilty of operating at a lethargic pace, especially in the opening 45 minutes.

However, in the second period, the visitors’ forward duo came to the fore and ensured that they set the platform for a vital victory in Belgrade.