Drama in Tbilisi as Portugal beat Belgium

A classic tournament thriller in Tbilisi saw Portugal dramatically, and controversially, claim all three points as they qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2023 UEFA Under-21 European Championships. 

LINEUPS

POR XI: Biai; Carlos, Penetra, Amaro, Tavares; Neves, Dantas*, Costa; Conceicao, Silva, Neto

POR SUBS: Meixedo, Soares, T.Araujo, Lelo, Vital, A.Sousa, Almeida, Bernardo, V.Sousa, H.Araujo, Moreira, Vitinha

BEL XI: Vandevoordt; Siquet, Debast, de Winter, De Cuyper; Matazo, Vranckx*; Ramazani, De Ketelaere, Balikwisha; Openda

BEL SUBS: Delanghe, Lammens, Al Dakhil, Van der Brempt, Patris, Pletinckx, Engels, Raskin, Keita, Deman, Descotte, Vertessen

Action: With qualification for the UEFA Under-21 European Championships on the line, one might expect a slow and nervy affair to take place but both sides had major opportunities within the first two minutes of the match.

Some intense pressure from Belgian forward Michel-Ange Balikwisha forced Andre Amaro into losing the ball and Lois Openda, off the back of an incredibly impressive season with Lens, had a chance to give Belgium an early lead but he swept an effort off the post before having his tame rebounded effort well saved by Celton Biai. 

As the ball stayed in play from Biai’s block, Portugal sprung into action to take Belgium off guard and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ star winger, Pedro Neto, cut inside on the edge of the Belgian box before firing straight at Maarten Vandevoordt. 

With both sides trading early blows, it was Portugal, more desperate for three points, who began to put their foot down. Fabio Silva, almost accidentally, found himself through on goal but the former Wolves forward couldn’t squeeze the ball past Vandevoordt, who was forced into another save. Then, a few minutes later, Samu Costa had a goal-bound header cleared well for a corner.

As the Portuguese became fully focused on some sort of all-out attack, with very little midfield organisation, they allowed Belgium another glorious opportunity to score.

Balikwisha took advantage of some bemusing defending to romp through the Portugal back-line but, after cutting onto his left foot, he was foiled by Celton Biai, once more. 

Portugal eventually did open the scoring in the second-half, thanks to an excellent strike from Benfica midfielder, Joao Neves. Fabio Silva crossed from just inside the box on his left foot and a deflection allowed Neves to come on to a looping ball and hammer home, past Vandevoordt.

Less than ten minutes later, though, substitute Yorbe Vertessen equalised for the Belgians with a brave near-post header, on the end of Luis Openda cross.

Belgium thought they had nicked a winner and sealed qualification to the quarter-finals via the aforementioned Openda with just over ten minutes to go as the Lens striker latched onto Vertessen’s through ball but he had strayed offside. 

Then, deep into the 90 minutes, Portugal were gifted an opportunity to win the match. Zeno Debast stood his ground as Henrique Araujo ran into the back of him as the ball looped into the hands of Vandevoordt. The referee, though, controversially awarded the Portuguese a spot-kick, which was expertly converted by Tiago Dantas.

The big picture: Belgium pushed for an equaliser that would have seen them qualify above the Netherlands on goals scored but they could not force it. The Netherlands were held to a shock 1-1 draw against the surprise package of the tournament Georgia and that means the 88th minute Dantas penalty has given Rui Jorge’s side a dramatic qualification.

Man of the match: Celton Biai. Despite conceding and Portugal having several key men, the man that kept them in the game in order to pinch it at the end was Vitoria’s Celton Biai. 

Portugal keeper Celton Biai 🙌#U21EURO | @selecaoportugal pic.twitter.com/rIgh6kgPOY

— #U21EURO (@UEFAUnder21) June 27, 2023

EVENTS

Kick-off

Half-time 

’56 | GOAL: Neves (1-0)

’64 | GOAL: Vertessen (1-1)

’78 | DISALLOWED: Openda

’89 | GOAL: Dantas [pen] (2-1)

Full-time