SVN vs POR: Ronaldo-led Portugal loses 2-0 to Slovenia in international friendly
Portugal had Cristiano Ronaldo back in its line-up but was missing the inspiration of its playmakers Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva.
Published : Mar 27, 2024 04:22 IST , Ljubljana - 1 MIN READ
Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the friendly football match between Portugal and Slovenia at the Stadium Stozice in Ljubljana. | Photo Credit: AFP
Portugal slipped to a surprise 2-0 defeat to Slovenia in a Euro 2024 friendly in Ljubljana on Tuesday, its first defeat since the arrival of Spanish coach Roberto Martinez who had previously won eleven games in a row.
After the 5-2 win over Sweden in Guimaraes on Thursday, Portugal had Cristiano Ronaldo back in its line-up but was missing the inspiration of its playmakers Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva.
Slovenia, who has also qualified for the Euros in Germany, opened the scoring through Adam Gnezda Cerin in the 72nd minute before Timi Elsnik doubled the advantage eight minutes later.
Having qualified with an unblemished record of 10 wins from 10 matches, Portugal will fine-tune its Euro 2024 preparations in June with further friendlies against Finland, Republic of Ireland and Croatia.
When it gets to Germany it will be grouped with Turkey, the Czech Republic and Georgia, who qualified on Tuesday by beating Greece on penalties in a play-off.
Slovenia has been drawn in the same group as England, Denmark and Serbia.