Erling Haaland‘s record-extending 22nd UEFA Nations League goal wasn’t enough to prevent Norway from going down to a 2-1 home loss to a Portugal side missing its star man, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, 41, has opted to continue playing for Portugal following the World Cup and started his team’s opening Nations League fixture — a 1-0 win over Wales on Thursday.
But with Ronaldo remaining on the bench for the full 90 minutes in Oslo, the man who replaced him in the starting lineup, Gonçalo Ramos, scored Portugal’s winner in the 54th minute.
The AC Milan forward intercepted a poor pass by Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland.
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Just three minutes earlier, Haaland had scored to extend his lead as the Nations League’s record scorer to seven over Ronaldo and Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The Manchester City striker has now scored in 16 of his last 17 competitive games for Norway, with the one blemish in that run being the loss to England in the World Cup quarterfinals.
João Félix had earlier put Portugal in front, scoring for the second straight game after netting the winner against Wales.
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Félix took a touch to control Pedro Neto’s cross before shooting low inside the corner in the 17th.
Ramos thought he’d made it 3-1 before the hour mark after another mistake by Nyland only to have the goal ruled out for offside after a VAR check.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
