Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo is refusing to get too carried away after Portugal moved to within one victory of reaching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
After failing to qualify for the finals via their respective qualifying group, Portugal entered the European play-offs, facing Turkey in their semi-final in Porto on Thursday evening. The 2016 European Champions got the job done, winning 3-1, courtesy of goals from Otavio, Diogo Jota and Matheus Nunes.
Otavia and Jota fired Fernando Santos' side into a commanding 2-0 lead by half-time, but Turkey refused to throw the towel in, halving the deficit with 25 minutes to go through striker Burak Yilmaz. He then had the chance to bring Turkey level 20 minutes later, but he fired a penalty over the crossbar, paving the way for Nunes to net Portugal's third goal deep into stoppage time.
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Portugal will now face North Macedonia in the Path C play-off final on Tuesday evening for a place in Qatar. The latter stunned Italy with a shock 1-0 win in Palermo, courtesy of a 92nd-minute winner from Aleksandar Trajkovski.
Considering Italy were overwhelming favourites to win the tie and set up a mouth-watering winner-takes-all clash with Portugal, Ronaldo and his team-mates will fancy their chances of getting the job done and joining the likes of England, France and Spain in Qatar.
However, Ronaldo, who scored four goals at the last World Cup in 2018, is remaining grounded. He has insisted that nothing has yet been achieved and Portugal must keep their foot to the floor.
On Instagram, Ronaldo said: "The first step towards our great objective, towards the 2022 World Cup. Nothing gained, nothing gained.
"We must continue to work hard and [remain] focused, respecting the opponent but always believing in our abilities. Come on Portugal!
"Off to Qatar!"
You have to go back to 1998 for the last time Portugal failed to reach the World Cup. Should they continue their recent trend of qualifying for the finals, however, they will be desperate to go beyond the round-of-16 stage for the first time since 2006.
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