The goal scored by Portugal’s Joao Neves in the decisive 2-1 win over Belgium on Tuesday was voted the best of the third and final round of the first round of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship announced this Sunday by UEFA. .
After his debut goal in his third international cap at this age, the 18-year-old Benfica midfielder beat out competition from Georgian Zuriko Davitashvili, Englishman Harvey Elliott and Frenchman Ryan Cherki among the nominees for the award, whose voting has been open to the public since Thursday through official website of the organization.
In the 56th minute of the match, played at the Mikhail Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, Joao Neves took advantage of Fabio Silva’s cross from the left, which crossed the opponent, and opened the scoring with the first shot. in the frontal area.
Yorbe Vertessen equalized in the 65th minute, but Portugal had a decisive success in the 89th minute with a penalty converted by captain Thiago Dantas, who also benefited from a 1–1 draw between Georgia and the Netherlands to reach the quarter-finals.
This Sunday at 20:00 local time (17:00 Lisbon) Portugal, which finished second in Group A, will play England, the winners of Group C and European Under-21 Champions in 1982 and 1984. , at the Ramaz Shengelia Stadium, located in the Georgian city of Kutaisi.
The winner will play Israel in the next leg, which on Saturday eliminated host Georgia, who beat the Kinas set on the opening day of the first leg, in a penalty tie-break (4-3) after a ‘null’ at the end of extra time (0-0 ).
In addition to aiming to reach the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championship, a competition it has already lost by decisions in 1994, 2015 and 2021, Portugal can now complete its fifth participation in the Olympic Games after Amsterdam 1928. , Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004 and Rio 2016