Portugal's Quarter-Century Wait Ends

MUENCHEN, THURSDAY - Portugal advanced to the final of the UEFA Nations League after defeating the host Germany, 2-1, at the Allianz Arena, Thursday (5/6/2025) early morning WIB. This result ended Portugal's long-standing curiosity, as they had not defeated Germany for a quarter of a century. Portugal's rare victory over Germany was achieved with a nearly identical atmosphere to that of 25 years ago.

The last time Portugal successfully defeated Germany was in the group stage of Euro 2000. At that time, Sergio Conceicao became the hero of Portugal's victory through his hat-trick. After that 3-0 victory, Portugal was always under German dominance. The two countries met again on five occasions but Portugal always suffered defeat.

Portugal's long-standing grudge has finally ended in a rather sweet manner. The atmosphere of Portugal's last victory over Germany in the 2000 European Championship seems to have been recreated. This is because one of the goal scorers for Portugal's victory is Francisco Conceicao, who is none other than the son of Sergio Conceicao.

Conceicao received the ball in the final third of the field and immediately ran towards the goal without any German defenders interfering with his movement. Gaining enough space, Conceicao took advantage of it by unleashing a curling shot that was not stopped by goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the 63rd minute.

"That is a great source of pride, and I have seen my father's goals many times. I know that the last time we won here was 25 years ago when my father scored three goals," said Conceicao.

The Conceicao goal revived Portugal's hopes, which had been trailing earlier, through Florian Wirtz's action in the 48th minute. Cristiano Ronaldo then proved that he is not finished yet by scoring the decisive goal for Portugal.

The choice of German Coach Julian Nagelsmann to play with a three-defender formation once again did not go smoothly. Nagelsmann was previously known to prefer the 4-2-3-1 formation, but suddenly opted for a 3-4-2-1 formation when facing Italy in the second meeting of the quarter-finals.

The German players seem to struggle to effectively translate Nagelsmann's instructions in the three-back formation. The two wing-backs, particularly Joshua Kimmich operating on the right flank, often delay their descent to their positions during transitions, leaving them frequently exposed to Pedro Neto. This scheme nearly allowed Portugal to score an early goal through Ronaldo. However, his shot was still saved by Ter Stegen.

After a 0-0 draw in the first half, Germany played better in the second half. They were able to score three minutes after the kick-off through Wirtz. Germany's goal came from the idea of gegenpressing to stop the Portuguese players from building an attack as early as possible. Kimmich sent a measured pass which Wirtz easily headed without much guard from the Portuguese defender.

"In the first half, we (almost) conceded two or three goals when our defensive work was not at 100 percent. This is an effort that the team needs to improve upon. For ten minutes after the break, we became a better team and took the lead. For me, that was indeed deserved during that period of the match," said Nagelsmann.

After conceding a goal from Wirtz, Portugal managed to equalize through a shot from Conceicao, and they have Ronaldo to thank for scoring the decisive goal. Ronaldo's goal was quite ordinary as he merely tapped in a well-placed pass from Nuno Mendes in front of the goal.

However, Ronaldo's movement off the ball is so impressive that he managed to evade the German defender's marking. This is his 137th international goal in 220 appearances for Portugal. Throughout his career, Ronaldo has scored 937 goals. Thus, he needs 63 more goals to become the first player to reach 1,000 goals in history.

"It is difficult to express in words. He takes advantage of every day as an opportunity to become better. As a human, when you achieve success, you will wake up and no longer feel hungry. However, that is not the case with Cristiano," said Portugal coach Roberto Martinez, as quoted by BBC Sport.

Ronaldo has led Portugal to the brink of a second success in winning the UEFA Nations League. The "Selecao das Quinas" was the champion of the inaugural edition of this tournament in 2019. In the final, Portugal will face the winner between France or Spain.