Portugal started brightly with no fewer than five chances coming Ronaldo’s way in the opening quarter-of-an-hour.
Raphael Guarneri (Borussia Dortmund) looked especially lively as he pushed up to lend support to the attack. But it was Egypt who so nearly took an early lead as El Said bore down on goal, but Beto was on hand to divert the danger. Otherwise the first-half was a case of neat, attractive football but little penetration in the final third. Wolverhampton Wanderers wonder kid Rúben Neves, who joined the Midlands team from FC Porto last summer, was in scintillating form including a marvellous 50-yard cross-field ball to Ronaldo, who controlled the ball instantly, bamboozled his marker before touching it to Guerreiro, whose cross was met by an acrobatic Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) volley that was blocked by a defender. The second-half was just ten minutes old when the Egyptians struck first through star man Mohamed Salah. He is already a folk hero with Liverpool’s faithful and is one of the most feared forwards on the planet having scored thirty-six goals in all competitions, including twenty-eight in the Premier League to move him clear in the Golden Boot race. Such form has seen the Egypt international linked with a move to Real Madrid. But just before the game was about to end with a famous victory for Egypt, the Cristiano Ronaldo show started. The Real Madrid man entered this match with twenty-one goals in his last eleven games including six goals in his last two outings. It was super-sub Ricardo Quaresma who proved to be the crucial link. The Besiktas winger received a raking pass from Rolando on the left flank in the 92nd minute and sent over a sumptuous cross to his fellow former Sporting graduate and great friend Ronaldo to head in the equaliser. But the Quaresma-Ronaldo double act was to create one more moment of magic in this intriguing game. Quaresma won a free kick in the dying seconds of the match, this time on the opposite flank, and again produced a perfect delivery for the captain to power a header into the net. The goal was initially ruled out for offside, but after consultation with the VAR it was validated and Portugal had won the match.