Soccer

Portugal need own goal to squeeze past Azerbaijan in Turin

Burak Yilmaz hat-trick leads Turkey to impressive win over Netherlands

Maksim Medvedev of Azerbaijan scores an own goal in the World Cup Group A qualifier against Portugal at the Allianz Stadium in Turin. Photograph: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images

Wed Mar 24 2021 - 19:19

Portugal 1 Azerbaijan 0

Portugal produced a rusty display in their opening World Cup Group A qualifier against Azerbaijan on Wednesday but still made a winning start with a 1-0 victory in a home game played in Turin.

Maksim Medvedev fumbled the ball into his own net after a mix-up with goalkeeper Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev to break the deadlock in the 37th minute of a game moved to Juventus’ stadium due to Covid-19 restrictions on travel to Portugal.

Portugal dominated possession but could not break down Azerbaijan again despite having 29 attempts on goal, 14 of which hit the target.

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All-time scorer Cristiano Ronaldo had eight attempts on goal but had a frustrating evening at his home stadium for the second time in four days after Juventus’ shock 1-0 defeat by Serie A strugglers Benevento on Sunday.

Ronaldo went closest with a late free kick which was tipped away by goalkeeper Mahammadaliyev, who was kept busy all evening and repelled second-half efforts from substitutes Bruno Fernandes and Joao Felix.

Portugal visit Serbia on Saturday in their next Group A game while Azerbaijan face World Cup 2022 hosts Qatar in a friendly before hosting Serbia in their second qualifier.

Burak Yilmaz celebrates after completing his hat-trick and scoring Turkey’s fourth goal during the World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. Photograph: Murad Sezer/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey 4 Netherlands 2

Veteran captain Burak Yilmaz netted a hat-trick as Turkey saw off a late rally from the Netherlands to secure a 4-2 home victory on Wednesday at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Yilmaz opened the scoring in the 14th minute of the Group G match with a deflected shot followed by a penalty 20 minutes later at Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium to put the Turks 2-0 up at half-time.

The game looked to be effectively over when Hakan Calhanoglu added the third a few seconds into the second half but two goals in as many minutes from Davy Klaassen and Luuk de Jong gave the Dutch hope of a late comeback.

Their momentum was ended , however, by a stunning free-kick from Yilmaz that completed his hat-trick and secured the points for Turkey.

Burak YilmazDavy KlaassenHakan CalhanogluLuuk De Jong