Milan: No Cristiano Ronaldo, no problem. Portugal drew with Italy 0-0 on Saturday to pick up the point it needed to qualify for the UEFA Nations League finals and confirm it as host of the first Final Four in June.
Ronaldo is taking a break from the national team and wasn’t present at San Siro, just as he wasn’t in Portugal’s first two Nations League matches — both of which they won.
Poland has already been assured of finishing last in the group and will be relegated to League B and Italy will finish second.
Italy dominated and had the better of the chances in front of a packed home crowd in Milan.
The Azzurri almost took the lead as early as the fifth minute. Lorenzo Insigne unleashed a scorcher from distance which Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio did well to beat away, and Ciro Immobile fired the rebound over from point-blank range.
There was a lot of good interplay from the hosts with crisp, efficient passing in the best performance seen by an Italy side in a long time. (AP)
