Portugal player ratings after defeat against France

Portugal were unable to find the back of the net against reigning world champions France as they suffered what is becoming an increasingly rare defeat to end their hopes of reaching the final four of the UEFA Nations League.

Portugal knew that a draw would have been sufficient to at least keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the competition for a second successive season alive, but they were unable to withstand France’s attacking pressure.

Here we take a look at how the Portugal players performed, looking at who struggled and who impressed when most important.

Rui Patricio - 7

A very strong display of goalkeeping quality ensured that Portugal remained in the game for longer than it perhaps could have been. Forced into action on four or five occasions, Patricio looked unstoppable at times, denying Anthony Martial with two excellent saves in one-on-one positions to prevent France from taking an early lead, while he pulled off a similar stop with his feet in the second half too. Having also smartly turned a Kinglsey Coman effort over the bar in the first half, Patricio was Portugal’s man of the match without a doubt. Most will be giving him criticism for his goalkeeping for the France goal, failing to catch Rabiot’s powerful low effort, though that could be deemed a little harsh; many goalkeeper’s may not have even attempted to get down to that effort with two hands and instead would have tried to push it away with one, but Patricio did get enough on it to hold it and he will be disappointed with himself. Also failed to deal with a pass back to him, giving away a cheap corner.

Joao Cancelo - 6

Some good defending at times with his tackling and intercepting as Portugal showed good discipline in their efforts to limit France’s attacking opportunities, while he also put in a couple of very dangerous crosses which could have ended up opening the scoring. But not a faultless performance, a little weak to regain possession on one occasion, with one or two loose passes too.

Jose Fonte - 5

Filling in for Pepe was always a tough task, and though he was quite solid throughout the game, there were one or two problematic moments. The first came early on when he was a little slow to react to a Griezmann through-ball, allowing Martial to get into a one-on-one shooting position, and was only saved by an excellent Patricio stop. He was also unable to block a low driven cross into the box later in the half, again thankful to see Patricio pull off another great close-range save, while he showed a lapse of concentration in the defensive third much later on when losing the ball cheaply. He was perhaps a little slow to sense danger in the build-up to France’s goal too. But he did look relatively solid most of the time, with some good covering play, interceptions and blocks.

Ruben Dias - 6

A pretty solid display from Ruben Dias yet again in a Portugal shirt, with an excellent bit of covering to help out Raphael Guerreiro in the first half to pull off a last-ditch tackle and put the ball out for a corner. He also cut down Martial’s angle, forcing him to aim for the near post and hit the side netting, though he did perhaps retreat more than you would like to see, and could also be given some of the blame for France engineering such a good goalscoring opportuity in the 11th minute. Nevertheless, a pretty accomplished showing overall.

Raphael Guerreiro - 5

A difficult game for Guerreiro defensively, who struggled to cope with the pace and trickery of Coman, who did manage to get past him on two or three occasions with relative ease. He also struggled in the defensive duels too. He did do a much better job offensively though, with a couple of very good crosses into the box and a very decent long-range effort, but a very average display from the Dortmund player.

Danilo Pereira - 5.5

It was a decent performance from Danilo overall, who largely did well at shielding his backline and helping Portugal remain at least somewhat solid in the opening hour. He did play an incredibly loose pass backwards to gift France possession, though did help win the ball back later on, and pulled off a couple of good headers and interceptions. Positionally he was solid too.

William Carvalho - 5

It was not a particularly poor display from Portugal’s midfield despite the dominance of France. William did uncharacteristically get dispossessed very early on, which was perhaps a sign that this wasn’t going to be Portugal’s day, and was slow to react in his challenge on Pogba, which led to the freekick which resulted in Martial hitting the crossbar. But otherwise he kept the ball relatively well, played some nice passes over both long and short distances and did have at least some control over the game, though France did find it all too easy at times to transition from the defence to attack and pass through Portugal’s midfield, and William didn’t have anywhere near the impact he often does.

Bruno Fernandes - 5.5

Some good crosses and corners offered Portugal their best chances of the game, and Bruno was behind a couple of them, but that is really the minimum requirement for a player playing in his position, and was not able to influence the game as he so often does. Tried to play some intricate stuff occasionally, but often didn’t pull it off, though was still the main source of creativity that Portugal had.

Bernardo Silva - 5

There were some sparks of good attacking endeavour from Manchester City’s midfield maestro, a couple of very teasing crosses that could have resulted in more, especially the one which saw Jose Fonte header onto the post, while he also worked hard defensively, but again that is pretty much the expectation for a player in his position, and he was ultimately locked out of much of the game.

Joao Felix - 5

Again, like Bernardo and Bruno, it just wasn’t really Felix’s day overall. There were some really nice flicks and tricks at times which looked good, but didn’t really offer too much to Portugal’s attacking potency. Had two ferocious efforts blocked and tried to offer a source of creativity, but also ended up giving the ball away a couple of times with some loose passing. France’s defence kept him quiet for most of the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo - 5.5

A really good header at the end of the first half could have re-written the script, and he made one or two very good dribbles where he pulled out some of his skills from his box to tricks, but France also did a good job of locking Ronaldo out of the game, who was unable to come close to adding to his 102 senior international goals, with exception to that powerful header. Gave the ball away or conceded a foul on one or two occasions and was carelessly caught offside in another instance.

Substitutes:

Diogo Jota - 5

For a player given 35 minutes to have an impact off the bench, Jota failed to have any considerable influence, struggling just as much as those which started on the field.

Joao Moutinho - 7

The game completely changed when Moutinho made his way onto the pitch. He added composure to midfield, helping significantly with both the defensive and attacking phases, and his excellent long-range shot deserved to hit the back of the net for the impact he had on proceedings.

Trincao - 6

Added a lot of creativity when he came onto the field, willing to run at the defence and looked to make things happen.

Sergio Oliveira - N/A

Didn’t really have enough time to influence the game.

Paulinho - N/A

Also did not get sufficient minutes to leave his mark.