Manchester United duo Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot faced harsh criticism from Portuguese media following Portugal’s final friendly before Euro 2024, which ended in a disappointing 2-1 loss to Croatia. This result has shaken confidence in Portugal, a team considered one of the favorites to win the tournament.
Portugal’s Final Friendly Before Euro 2024
In a warm-up match against Croatia, Roberto Martinez’s side suffered a defeat that has caused significant concern. Croatia’s Luka Modric scored the opening goal with a penalty, followed by an equalizer from Liverpool’s Diogo Jota in the 48th minute. However, Croatia regained the lead when Ante Budimir netted the winning goal just eight minutes later.
Portuguese Media Reaction over Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot
The Portuguese media reacted swiftly and critically to the unexpected loss. Leading sports outlet Abola offered an extensive analysis of the team’s performance, particularly focusing on the contributions of Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot.
“Roberto Martínez wanted to present an eleven that was already very close to the definitive one. The choices didn’t even seem too questionable. Rúben Dias and Gonçalo Inácio as centre-backs, Diogo Dalot and Nuno Mendes as more reliable full-backs to defend, Palhinha as the master key to the door of the area, Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes in midfield, Bernardo Silva, Gonçalo Ramos and João Félix in the advanced trident, with Bernardo and Félix playing inside and opening spaces on the wings for the full-backs,” reported Abola.
However, the match quickly turned into what the media described as a “disaster.” Abola continued, “Trying not to lose its main identity of always having a lot of possession, the team became repetitive, indolent, and too predictable in attack and totally disjointed in the defensive process, opening immense spaces through which a real invasion of Croatians entered.”
Analyzing Fernandes and Dalot’s Performance
Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot were not singled out as the primary reasons for the loss, but their performances did little to alleviate the team’s struggles. According to FOTMOB, their match statistics were as follows:
Bruno Fernandes
- Minutes played: 70
- Goals: 0
- Assists: 0
- Accurate passes: 43/49 (88%)
- Chances created: 1
- Touches: 68
- Successful dribbles: 1/2
- Accurate long balls: 4/6
- Tackles won: 2/2 (100%)
- Duels won: 4
- Match rating: 7.2
Diogo Dalot
- Minutes played: 46
- Goals: 0
- Assists: 0
- Accurate passes: 25/26 (96%)
- Chances created: 1
- Touches: 37
- Tackles won: 1/1 (100%)
- Times dispossessed: 0
- Match rating: 6.6
What’s Next for Portugal?
Portugal is set to face the Czech Republic on Tuesday, June 18, in their Euro 2024 opener. Both Fernandes and Dalot will be aiming to improve their performances and contribute to a better result for their national team.
As Portugal prepares for the tournament, the pressure is on to address the issues highlighted by their recent performance against Croatia. The team will need to enhance both their offensive dynamics and defensive coherence if they hope to live up to their billing as one of the tournament favorites.
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