The Portuguese team started the match strongly, and almost opened the scoring early through Bruno Fernandes in the third minute, but his shot went just over the crossbar. Three minutes later, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first goal for Portugal in the sixth minute, with a shot with his right foot from the middle of the penalty area to the right corner of the ground, after a cross from Joao Cancelo.
The goal was a historic record for Ronaldo, as he became the first player to score in six editions of the World Cup, and he also became the oldest scorer in the history of the tournament at the age of 41 years and 138 days.
Portugal continued its pressure, and Nuno Mendes scored the second goal in the 17th minute from a direct free kick, with a left-footed shot to the left corner of the floor. On the other hand, Uzbekistan tried to advance through some rebounds, without posing a major threat to the Portuguese goal.
In the 29th minute, Uzbekistan scored a goal through Azizjon Ganiev, but the referee canceled it after reviewing the video technology. Ten minutes later, Ronaldo returned to score the third goal for Portugal in the 39th minute, with a shot from the right side of the penalty area to the left corner of the floor, after a through pass from Bruno Fernandes following a counterattack.
With this goal, Ronaldo became the all-time leading scorer for Portugal in the World Cup with 10 goals, surpassing Eusebio. He also scored his first brace in the World Cup since the 2018 edition.
The first half ended with Portugal leading 3-0, which is the first time in its history that it has led by 3 goals at the end of the first half in a World Cup match.
At the beginning of the second half, the Portuguese national team made two substitutions, with Francisco Conceicao replacing Pedro Neto, and Nelson Semedo replacing Joao Cancelo, while the Uzbekistan national team brought on Kamla Mozgovoy and Khojiakbar Alijonov.
In the 47th minute, Joao Felix fired a powerful shot from outside the area that passed just over the crossbar, before Uzbekistan responded with an attempt via Otabek Shukurov in the 55th minute, but it passed near the right post.
In the 60th minute, Portugal scored the fourth goal after an own goal from goalkeeper Abdul-Wahid Nematov. Then, Ronaldo tried to score a hat-trick in the 74th minute, after he caught a rebound ball and shot towards the goal, but Nematov intervened with a wonderful reaction and prevented the ball from entering.
The following minutes witnessed a number of substitutions, as Trincao replaced Joao Felix, Bernardo Silva replaced Joao Neves, then Rafael Leao replaced Vitor Ferreira. Leao only needed a few minutes to leave his mark, scoring Portugal’s fifth goal in the 87th minute with a right-footed shot from the middle of the penalty area to the top left corner.
In the final minutes, Bruno Fernandes tried to score with a shot towards the lower left corner, but goalkeeper Nematov blocked it, before Trincao, in the 90th + 4th minute, shot a powerful ball from a long distance that passed just past the right post.
The match ended with a huge victory for Portugal over Uzbekistan 5-0, on a night that witnessed great brilliance for Ronaldo and a new historical record in his World Cup career.
