Lisbon: Wasteful Portugal were held to a 1-1 home draw by Serbia after their captain and top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo limped off with an apparent hamstring injury in the first half of their Euro 2020 Group B qualifier Monday.
Dusan Tadic fired Serbia ahead with a seventh-minute penalty before Ronaldo was replaced by Pizzi on the half-hour and centre back Danilo equalised for the European champions with a spectacular long-range effort in the 42nd.
In the group’s other fixture, Ukraine came from behind to win 2-1 in Luxembourg, who suffered heartbreak with a late own goal by Gerson Rodrigues, and go top with four points from two games. Luxembourg stay on three points and Portugal are on two.
Serbia have one point from one match and Lithuania have none after their shock 2-1 defeat in Luxembourg Friday.
Having been held to a 0-0 home stalemate by Ukraine Friday, Portugal were under pressure to deliver but fell behind after their goalkeeper Rui Patricio clattered into Mijat Gacinovic and Tadic converted the spot-kick.
Ronaldo pulled up after sprinting for the ball and appeared to be in some discomfort as he pointed towards his right hamstring while he received treatment near the corner flag before signalling to come off.
Serbia keeper Marko Dmitrovic produced a string of superb saves before Danilo levelled with a thunderbolt from 25 metres, which cannoned into the net off the underside of the bar, after a darting run through the middle from the halfway line.
Ronaldo expects quick recovery
Lisbon: Cristiano Ronaldo does not think the injury which forced him out of Portugal’s match against Serbia Monday is overly serious and he told reporters he expects to return to action in one or two weeks. Ronaldo went off in the first half of the Euro 2020 qualifier with an apparent hamstring injury. The match ended 1-1. “I’ll know more in 24 or 48 hours,” he told reporters. “It happens, it’s football. If you go out in the rain you get wet … I’m calm, I’ll be back in one or two weeks.”