Euro 2024 | Neto helps Portugal to comeback win

Even though Pedro Neto only spent a brief amount of time on the field, he made a significant contribution towards Portugal's victory over Czechia at the start of their 2024 Euro campaign.

In the summer tournament held in Germany, Neto, along with his Wolves teammates Jose Sa and Nelson Semedo, began the first group stage game on the bench. Despite waiting patiently, he didn't get a chance until the 90th minute, when he was finally brought on with Semedo and Porto's Francisco Conceicao in Leipzig.

During the initial 90 minutes, Portugal had various opportunities to score, and Vitinha, who used to play for Old Gold, appeared in the midfield. The majority of these chances were given to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo nearly scored just over 30 minutes into the game. Bruno Fernandes passed the ball through the Czechia defenders, but Jindrich Stanek, their goalkeeper, stopped Ronaldo's shot. Stanek then made another save just before half-time when Ronaldo tried to score again. This made the first half frustrating for the Portuguese team.

After halftime, Portugal continued to put pressure on their opponents. However, it was Czechia who managed to score the first goal during a rarely seen counterattack. Lukas Provod skillfully kicked the ball past the far post, with the help of Vladimir Coufal from West Ham United.

Nevertheless, Portugal was able to equalize the game shortly after when Stanek was unable to fully clear Nuno Mendes' header, causing the ball to ricochet off Robin Hranac and into the back of the net. Portugal believed they had secured the victory when Diogo Jota, a former player of Wolves like Hranac, scored a goal from a pass by Ronaldo. However, the captain's goal was deemed offside by VAR.

As the game was coming to an end with a tie score of 1-1, Roberto Martinez decided to make a substitution and brought in Neto and Semedo from the Wolves along with Conceicao. At the 90th minute, the combination of Neto and Conceicao led to a point-winning goal for their team just two minutes later.

Following some excellent play on the left, where Neto managed to get past several Czechia defenders, he found an opening and made a cross that ended up being deflected. Fortuitously, the ball then reached Conceicao, who was able to score a goal from close range, leading to frenzied and exuberant celebrations.