Play-offs in store for Nuno Mendes and Danilo Pereira's Portugal

News

The Portugal side of Paris duo Nuno Mendes and Danilo Pereira suffered a 2-1 loss to Serbia at the Estadio do SL Benfica in Lisbon on Sunday during the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

The result dropped Portugal down to second place in Group A, three points behind their opponents. They will therefore need to seal their World Cup place via the play-offs, with the draw scheduled for Friday 26 November.

PORTUGAL 1-2 SERBIA (1-1)
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Qualifying phase - European Zone - Group A - Matchday 8
Estadio do SL Benfica (Lisbon)
Goals: Renato Sanches (2') for Portugal; Tadic (33') and Mitrovic (90') for Serbia.
PORTUGAL: Rui Patricio - João Cancelo, Fonte, Ruben Dias, N. Mendes - Renato Sanches (Ruben Neves, 83'), Danilo (André Silva, 90'+2), João Moutinho (João Palhinha, 64') - Ronaldo (c), Bernardo Silva (Bruno Fernandes, 63') - Diogo Jota (João Félix, 83'). Coach: Fernando Santos.
SERBIA: Rajkovic - Milenkovic, Veljkovic (Spajic, 65'), Pavlovic - Zivkovic (Radonjic, 69'), Lukic, Gudelj (Mitrovic, 46'), Milinkovic-Savic, Kostic (Jovic, 89') - Tadic (c) - Vlahovic. Coach: Dragan Stojkovic.

Group A standings in the European Zone qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022:

1. Serbia / 20 points, +9 (8 games played)
2. Portugal / 17 points, +11 (8 games played)
3. Republic of Ireland / 9 points, +3 (8 games played)
4. Luxembourg / 9 points, -10 (8 games played)
5. Azerbaijan / 1 point, -13 (8 games played)