PORTUGAL defeated the Super Eagles 2-1 in a friendly match in Leiria tonight, ending Eric Chelle’s side’s unbeaten streak as Alex Iwobi celebrated his 100th Nigeria cap.
Pedro Neto and Francesco Conceicao struck for the European side who are preparing for the World Cup, while Akor Adams scored for the three-time African champions.
The first big chance of the match fell to Portugal great Cristiano Ronaldo in the ninth minute as he broke through the Super Eagles’ offside trap, but he screwed his shot narrowly wide with only goalkeeper Maduka Okoye to beat.
Moments later, Adams had a great opportunity to give the Super Eagles the lead, but the Sevilla striker dragged his shot wide from inside the Portugal box.
Chelsea winger Neto then opened the scoring in the entertaining contest in the 23rd minute, shooting across Okoye from inside the box after being set up by Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot.
Ten minutes later, Okoye spectacularly saved a fierce shot by Bruno Fernandes, and just a minute after, Ronaldo missed narrowly with a glancing header from the Manchester United midfielder’s corner.
Adams restored parity for the Super Eagles eight minutes before half-time with a left-footed finish after picking the pockets of Portugal’s centre-backs and exchanging passes with Fisayo Dele-Bashiru.
In the second half, Okoye made a double save from João Félix, in the 48th and 49th minutes.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo also continued his search for a goal, but he failed to connect well from a cross in the 50th minute.
On the hour mark, Super Eagles head coach Chelle made a number of changes, bringing on Abdullahi Bewene, Zaidu Sanusi, Terem Moffi, Raphael Onyedika and Frank Onyeka.
Portugal struck the winner With 15 minutes left on the clock as Conceicao fired home past an unsighted Okoye after cutting in from the right.
Félix’s efforts to get on the scoresheet was again scuttled in the 84th minute by Okoye, who pushed away another fierce delivery by the forward.
The loss was only the second in regulation time for Chelle after leading the Super Eagles in 25 matches over the past 15 months.
