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Portugal beat Poland on penalties to reach semi-finals

Portugal beat Poland on penalties to reach semi-finals

July 01, 2016 | 01:06 AM
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Portugal reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016 yesterday as they secured a dramatic 5-3 spot-kick win over Poland following a 1-1 draw in Marseille.Keeper Rui Patricio saved Jakub Blaszczykowski’s fourth kick for Poland and Ricardo Quaresma slammed home the winner to ensure there was no repeat of Poland’s shoot-out success over Switzerland which had carried them into the quarter-finals.Earlier Poland’s Robert Lewandowski had ended his goal drought with a smart finish inside two minutes only for teenage midfielder Renato Sanches to level with a deflection before the break.Portugal await either Wales or Belgium in the first semi-final which is played in Lyon on Wednesday.Poland made the dream start after only 100 seconds when Portugal full-back Cedric was caught out by the bounce of a cross-field pass and Kamil Grosicki pounced to break clear.His cross from the left was guided just inside the near-post by Lewandowski for his first goal of the tournament.It also ended a seven-game international scoring drought for the Bayern Munich forward and was said to be the second-fastest ever at a Euros by UEFA.
July 01, 2016 | 01:06 AM