Portugal defeated Italy 1-0 in their friendly at the Stade de Geneve in Switzerland on Tuesday night.
Italy dominated the game for most of the first half but couldn’t open the scoring before Eder volleyed home his first goal for the Portguese, and they held on for the remainder of the match to claim victory and condemn Italy to their first defeat under Antonio Conte.
The result also means Italy will not be seeded for the World Cup 2018 qualifiers.
Things got off to a good start for the Italians when an Andrea Pirlo free-kick from the right flank was fired towards Portugal goalkeeper Beto and rebounded back out into open play.
They nearly scored just before the 10 minute mark when a long ball reached Ciro Immobile in the penalty area but his outstretched leg couldn’t reach it and a goal kick was given instead.
It was then Portugal’s turn to strike when a free-kick was unconvincingly punched away by Salvatore Sirigu and into the path of a Portuguese striker but the Azzurri defence managed to block the attempt before starting a counter attack of their own which fizzled out.
Hopes were high when Pirlo was awarded a free-kick in a perfect position for his strikes but it deflected off the wall and out for a corner which was cleared.
Andrea Bertolacci nearly opened the scoring just after quarter of an hour when his shot from outside the box curved just wide of Beto’s right post.
Antonio Conte’s men remained on the front foot when Stephan El Shaarawy cut in on the left flank and his effort curled just wide of the goal following a quick counter attack from a Portuguese free-kick.
Fernando Santos’ men, however, became the closest to break the deadlock on 30 minutes when a huge chance was wasted after Sirigu ran out of his goal to tackle Silvestre Varela but failed, and the 30-year-old’s shot into an open goal was cleared off the goal line from the back-tracking Andrea Ranocchia.
Sirigu was challenged again a few minutes later but a half-hearted effort from Joao Moutinho was an easy save, and neither side could find a goal before the half-time whistle blew.
Italy started the second half in the same way they began the first, and nearly scored when another Pirlo free-kick found the head of Leonardo Bonucci but his attempt hit the Portuguese post.
A few moments later, however, Portugal were the first to hit the back of the net when striker Eder volleyed in a shot off the end of Ricardo Quaresma’s inward swinging cross on 52 minutes.
Matteo Darmian tried to level the scores when he turned in the box and curled an effort towards the far post but it was too wide and the attack once again vanished.
Franco Vazquez then threatened the Portugal goal with a few seconds left to play with a shot from the outside of the box that was tipped over the bar and the resulting corner led to nothing, and the final whistle blew to give Italy their first defeat since the 2014 World Cup.
