Portugal should be level against Germany. Cristiano Ronaldo starts a sad-looking attack, feeding Fabio Coentrao deep in his own half, but his Madrid teammate picks out a wonderful forward pass that finds Nelson Oliveira ahead of Mats Hummels. The substitute secured possession and eventually cut the ball back to the danger zone. The pass somehow goes through Holger Badstuber's legs and straight to Varela in space, but his shot is well saved by the onrushing Manuel Neuer.
Germany Vs. Portugal, Euro 2012: Neuer Preserves German Lead
Neuer hasn’t had a good game, but that was a vital stop. With the match at 1-0 and already into injury time, Portugal won’t get many more chances like that to avoid an opening-game loss that they probably don’t deserve on the balance of play. They’ll really be ruing the Varela miss and Pepe’s crossbar hit from the first half if they do end up losing this one.
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