Azerbaijan vs Portugal Highlights & Report 07 September 2021 – WC Qualification. Referee: Guida M. (Ita) , Venue: Baku Olympic Stadium – Baku
Azerbaijan vs Portugal Highlights
Goal – 0:1 – 26′
Silva B.(Fernandes B.), Portugal
Bernardo Silva (Portugal) hits a precise missile from a cross. The ball bounces in off the left post, leaving the keeper helpless.
Goal – 0:2 – 31′
Silva An.(Jota D.), Portugal
Goal! Diogo Jota displays great vision and sends a pass to Andre Silva (Portugal), who shows brilliant composure inside the box to bury the ball into the bottom right corner. The score is 0:2.
Azerbaijan vs Portugal Report 07 September 2021
A star-studded Portugal took another step towards qualification for Qatar 2022, as they swept aside relative minnows Azerbaijan in Baku.
Azerbaijan’s faint hopes of reaching Qatar 2022 hinged on causing a gargantuan upset against Portugal, who didn’t appear to be in the mood for being on the receiving end of an upset. Without Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal still looked their assured selves and flew out of the traps, putting Azerbaijan firmly on the back foot. Early chances came and went for Portugal, but there was the feeling it was only a matter of time before Fernando Santos’ side found a breakthrough, which came on 26 minutes. Bruno Fernandes’ neat footwork opened up time and space for Bernardo Silva, who finished with aplomb, rifling a strike in off the woodwork to open the scoring. Just like London buses, a second soon followed – this time, it was Diogo Jota’s defence-splitting pass that allowed André Silva to pick his spot and bury the ball past Sahruddin Mehemmedeliyev.
Having provided Portugal’s second, Jota was inches away from getting himself on the scoresheet at the start of the second half. The Liverpool frontman latched onto Fernandes’ lofted ball and flashed an effort just wide of the post which would’ve undoubtedly put the game out of reach for Azerbaijan. Confidence was flowing through the Portuguese ranks and B.Silva was next to try his luck for the visitors, but Mehemmedeliyev produced a fine save to keep the deficit to just two.
Portugal’s victory was seemingly secure from the moment the first goal went in, given they have only ever conceded one goal to Azerbaijan in their last seven H2H clashes, so the chances of them claiming an equaliser today appeared to be incredibly slim. Jota rounded off Portugal’s night, meeting João Cancelo’s cross to thunder home a header from close range as the ‘Seleção’ remain unbeaten at the summit of Group A.
