Portugal make statement with impressive win over Turkey

Roberto Martinez will be pleased with a slick team display.

FINE WINE: Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe during the game in Dortmund. Pic:  Nick Potts/PA Wire.

TURKEY 0 PORTUGAL 3 (Bernardo Silva 21, Akaydin og 28, Bruno Fernandes 56) 

PORTUGAL pocketed three points to confirm their place as winners of Group F with a game to spare, with a fine team performance to prove they are much more than the Cristiano Ronaldo show.

The 39-year-old superstar is still box office, of course, as evidenced by four selfie-seekers who invaded the pitch during this Turkey shoot, all homing in on one man. But Portugal's success is coming from a younger generation of stars now, and it is strange to watch them winning without Ronaldo as the main man.

For so long he had been their talisman and tactical focus, the one player around whom everything else revolved.

But this is a different Portugal team under Roberto Martinez, with the emphasis on team rather than he who shall not be disrespected.

Ronaldo is 39 now and – whisper it quietly – a fading force. He continues to break records and he looks to be in great shape – a quick trawl through his Instagram shows evidence of his ripped physique, but age catches up with us all, and he no longer has the same power in his legs.

It showed in the first minute here in Dortmund, when he met a Bernardo Silva cross with a perfectly timed volley, but instead of arrowing into the far corner of goal, as it once would, the ball flew tamely straight to goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.

And later when Bruno Fernandes sent forward a cross, Ronaldo's leap was less high than in his freakish peak, and he could only glance the ball off the top of his head and over the bar.

But Portugal are none the worse for their superstar's below-par performances. Far from it, they are now a dynamic team composed of kids who were barely out of nappies when Ronaldo started ripping it up for club and country. Vitinho, Rafael Leao, Pedro Neto and Joao Felix are all 24, and Nuno Mendes, at 21, was only a year old when Sir Alex Ferguson signed the teenager who would change the football landscape in Manchester and Madrid.

Now he is in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo is no longer playing at the highest level and it shows, but he is still the centre of attention in so many ways. In the 68th minute a young boy, no more than ten years old, ran on to get a selfie with his hero who obliged, before the kid sidestepped a trio of burly stewards on his way back to the touchline, much to the amusement of spectators.

But when an older pitch-invader went in search of the same prize 15 minutes later, Ronaldo was not amused and nor were fans. And the third time it happened, in the final minute, the crowd booed loudly as a third selfie-seeker ended up empty-handed Ronaldo's name had got the most raucous roar when it was read out before kick-off, although that was matched by the reception Arda Guler got from the huge contingent of Turkish fans here in Dortmund when he went on as a substitute 20 minutes from the end.

By that stage Turkey were done for, 3-0 down and out of contention in this winner-take-all match that would determine first place in Group F.

Coach Vincenzo Montella had left out the teenage wunderkind who'd scored a wonder goal in their 3-1 win over Georgia, hoping a more experienced side would give Martinez's men a tougher time, but Portugal picked off the not-so-young Turks with ease and had the game won inside an hour. Silva started the scoring in the 21st minute, sweeping the ball past Bayindir after Mendes crossed low from the left.

Shortly afterwards Turkey shot themselves in the foot when Samet Akaydin failed to spot his keeper advancing towards him and rolled a backpass past him and over the line to make it 2-0. And early in the second half, Ronaldo rolled back the years with that trademark curving run to remain onside and collect Joao Cancelo's long forward pass, before unselfishly laying off the ball to leave Bruno Fernandes with a simple tap-in.

That was pretty much it, except for a flurry of substitutions and attention-seeking fans, with a fourth trying to accost Ronaldo as he lined up to defend a corner. He may be the force of nature of old, but he is still the man everyone wants to be seen with.

Turkiye XI (4-2-3-1): Bayindir 6; Celik 6, Akaydin 5 (Demiral, 75'), Bardakci 6, Kadioglu 6; Calhanoglu 6. Ayhan 6 (Yuksek, 58'), Akgun 6 (Guler, 70'); Kokcu 7 (Yazici, HT), Akturkoglu 6 (Yildiz, 58'), Yilmaz 6 Subs not used: Cakir, Yokuslu, Tosun, Kaplan, Ozcan, Muldur, Kilicsoy, Yildirim.

Portugal XI (4-3-3): Costa 7; Cancelo (Semedo 68), Pepe 8 (A.Silva 83'), Dias 7, Nunes 7, Vitinha 8 (Neves, 88'), Palhinha 7 (Neves, HT), Fernandes 7; Leao 7 (Neto, HT), Ronaldo 6, Silva 8 Subs not used: Patricio, Sa, Dalot, Ramos, Felix, Danilo, Inacio, Nunes, Jota, Conceicao.