hero-image

Portugal 1-0 Netherlands: 5 Hits and Flops

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo lifts the Nations League trophy aloft after their 1-0 win over Holland
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo lifts the Nations League trophy aloft after their 1-0 win over Holland

Portugal tastes European silverware for the second time in three years after a slender but deserved 1-0 win over the Netherlands on Sunday.

A well-taken effort on the hour mark by Valencia's Goncalo Guedes proved the difference in Porto as Fernando Santos' men eventually made their pressure tell against a sluggish Holland - clearly still feeling the effects from their extra-time win over England on Thursday night. 

Despite going close with Memphis Depay and substitute Luuk de Jong late on, Portugal held firm to keep their clean sheet intact and shut out the Dutch, who had scored in all of their last 13 internationals, dating back to a 1-0 defeat by England last March.

With all of that in mind, here's a look at five hits and flops from the game.


#5 Flop: Ryan Babel

Babel struggled to get going nor impose much creative threat in promising areas before being replaced
Babel struggled to get going nor impose much creative threat in promising areas before being replaced

The experienced Fulham winger, 32, started again as he did against England on Thursday but it quickly became apparent that Ronald Koeman should have shuffled his attacking bunch for this one. 

After delivering a match-defining contribution from the substitutes' bench, Sevilla's Quincy Promes was there again on this occasion when he really ought to have started. Babel had just 13 touches in 45 minutes of action and despite the team's collective slow start, he didn't do much to influence them forward from the left-hand side of their 4-3-3 formation. 

He was dispossessed twice in promising areas and failed to stretch Portugal's backline with his movement in wide areas either. Unsurprisingly replaced at the interval, you could make a case for all three of their forwards to feature here as this game was crying out for a quality centre-forward and Koeman didn't have that luxury to call upon.

You may also like