Chapter 622 Continuous Killing

During the halftime break, Santos asked about Bruno's health, and Bruno told him that he was fine. The opponent's dirty tricks only left some bruises on his body, but did not hurt his bones.

Santos was still worried and told Bruno to be careful in the second half. If this was not a knockout match but a group match, Santos even wanted to replace Bruno directly.

In the second half, Russia's actions became more intense. The players of the Portuguese national team were enraged by them and the game became increasingly tense.

Four Portuguese players received yellow cards, but Bruno was not one of them. He always remembered his mission, not to fight with the Russians, but to defeat them.

In the 63rd minute, Bruno's forbearance finally paid off.

His surgically sharp pass helped Ronaldo find an opportunity in the penalty area, and he shot into the far corner of the goal, giving Portugal a 1:0 lead!

The Portuguese team's bench and coaching booth cheered loudly, and the Portuguese fans in the stands also jumped up and shouted "Come on Portugal!"

The Luzhniki Stadium, which had previously been filled with boos, was temporarily filled with the shouts of Portuguese fans, and soon the crazy home fans fought back, making all the noise they could to cover up the cheers of the Portuguese.

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After scoring the goal, Ronaldo roared at the Russians in the stands, finally letting out a sigh of relief. He knew very well what role Bruno played in the Portuguese team's improved performance in major competitions in recent years. Although Bruno's rise had an impact on his position in Portugal and even in the world of football, Ronaldo felt that it was no longer important in the face of national team honors.

Therefore, in Ronaldo's eyes, Bruno is not only an opponent, but also his brother.

Seeing his brother being bullied by the other side, he had been holding a lot of anger in his heart for a long time, and now he finally vented it.

Seeing that the team was leading, Santos quickly replaced Bruno without caring that there were still many minutes left in the game.

Bruno knew that this was to protect him, and it was well-intentioned, so he couldn't complain. Although he thought that Russia's small actions were like mosquito bites, there was nothing to be afraid of.

When he walked off the field, it was definitely not just Santos who breathed a sigh of relief, but also the Portuguese fans in front of the TV. They also knew how important Bruno was in the national team. Portugal won the world championship in the previous two years, not only because of the outstanding performance of captain Cristiano Ronaldo, but also because of Bruno's rise.

If Bruno got injured, everyone knew that the Portuguese national team was finished. They didn't want to see Bruno lead the Portuguese national team to the World Cup finals with a closed face.

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After Bruno left the field, the performance of the Portuguese national team was obviously not as good as before. One prominent manifestation was that they had no direction when attacking.

Before Bruno was there, everyone just gave the ball to him and let him organize the attack. Now? Who should they give it to? Only Moutinho, but Moutinho's ability is still far behind Bruno.

In the end, Santos simply signaled the entire team to retreat, just to hold on to the one-goal advantage and win.

He didn't care that the game was ugly. The Portuguese national team had played many uglier games than this one, where they lost both the ball and face. Although the scene was ugly now, it was not shameful.

In the end, with the united defense of the Portuguese, the score of 2:1 was maintained until the end of the game. They eliminated the host Russia and advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

According to the World Cup match situation, the remaining two teams in the quarter-finals where Portugal is located are Croatia and Denmark. This match will be held in the evening of July 7, and the whistle time will be 1 hours later than the match between Portugal and Russia.

According to Bruno's memory, the final winner of the match between Croatia and Denmark should be Croatia. After all, at the original time, Croatia reached the final this year.

The result was just as Bruno remembered. Croatia and Denmark fought on the field for 120 minutes, and finally Croatia won 3:2 through a brutal penalty shootout.

As a result, Portugal's opponent in the quarter-finals will be Croatia led by Modric.

The other three quarter-finals are Uruguay vs. France, Brazil vs. Belgium, and Sweden vs. England.

If Portugal can successfully get past Croatia, their opponent in the semi-final will be the winner between Sweden and England.

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As for Croatia, all parties are optimistic about Portugal. After all, as the champion of the 2016 European Cup and the 2017 Confederations Cup, Portugal has performed very well in recent years and ranks third in the world. In the team, there are two of the three giants of world football today, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno. In terms of fame and strength, they seem to be one step ahead of Croatia, which ranks th in the world.

Portugal is also optimistic about defeating Croatia. On the one hand, Croatia's core player Modric is a player that Portugal is very familiar with, especially Ronaldo and Pepe. On the other hand, Portugal has won consecutive victories in the World Cup and has shown an invincible posture all the way, which has made the Portuguese players a little arrogant.

But Bruno did not get carried away. As a time traveler, he knew how good this Croatian team was. With Modric as the core, this Croatian team had players of the top five European leagues in all fronts, and the players were in the best condition in all aspects. This was also the reason why they once reached the finals of this World Cup and performed very well in the following tournaments.

Therefore, Bruno solemnly warned his teammates not to underestimate Croatia, otherwise Portugal would most likely capsize.

After all, Croatia won three consecutive games in the group stage, scored 7 goals and conceded only one goal in three games, and also defeated Argentina led by Yosi 3:0, which shows its fighting power.

Most of the Portuguese players didn't take Bruno's warning seriously, but Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe, two of Modric's teammates, took Bruno's words to heart. This is because they have been teammates with Modric for a long time and know how strong this Croatian midfielder is.

If Bruno is the No. 1 midfielder in the world today, then Modric is definitely the No. 2 midfielder in the world today, and can even be compared with Bruno.

Real Madrid has been able to reach the Champions League final four times in the past five years and win the Champions League three times. Modric has made great contributions. His influence in Real Madrid is not much less than that of Ronaldo.

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Portugal and Croatia both had plenty of rest time before the start of this quarter-final.

The quarter-final between Portugal and Russia will be on the afternoon of July 7, the match between Croatia and Denmark will be on the evening of July 1, and the quarter-final between the two teams will be on the evening of July 7. Both sides will have almost a week's rest.

In terms of rest time, the two teams are similar; Portugal also has an advantage, that is, the venue of this game, Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, is the venue for the match between Portugal and Spain, so Portugal is relatively familiar with it.

July 7, 9 pm Sochi local time, Fisht Olympic Stadium.

In the last quarter-final of the World Cup in Russia, Portugal faced Croatia. In recent years, the two teams have not had many opportunities to meet, only three times since 1996, Portugal won three consecutive victories, including the 1996 European Cup Portugal 3:0 victory over Croatia, the 2005 friendly match Portugal won 2:0, and the most recent match was in the 2013 friendly match, Portugal won 1:0.

Having reached the quarterfinals, both teams obviously don't want to stop there.

For Croatia, the goalkeeper is Subasic, and the defense line is Strinic, Lovren, Vida and Vrsaljko.

The double defensive midfielders are Modric and Rakitic, the frontcourt is Kramaric, Rebic and Perisic, and Mandzukic continues to play as the lone striker, which is also what everyone is paying attention to before the game.

Many people believe that Mandzukic is in poor form and should be removed from the starting lineup, but Dalic still put Mandzukic in the starting lineup, obviously still has high hopes for him.

Not only Mandzukic, but also stars such as Kramaric, Modric, Perisic, Rakitic and Lovren all entered the starting lineup. Dalic has obviously arranged the strongest lineup he can.

Portugal also used the 4-5-1 formation again, but with some adjustments to personnel and positions.

The goalkeeper is Patricio, the defense line is Guerrero, Pepe, Fonte and Cancelo, the midfielders from left to right are Bernardo Silva, William Carvalho, Joao Mario, Moutinho and Bruno, and Ronaldo plays as the lone striker.

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From the moment the game whistle sounded, both sides went straight into a fast-paced hand-to-hand combat with blood on the bayonets.

Croatia came on strong, showing its determination to defeat its opponent at all costs. But Portugal was also determined, and even in the fast-paced offense and defense, it still took the lead in seizing an opportunity.

In the second minute of the game, after the midfielder intercepted the ball, Ronaldo pulled to the open space to receive the ball, turned around and shook off the defender, and made a straight pass to Bernardo Silva.

This was a very good opportunity, but Bernardo Silva was a bit slow when stopping the ball and failed to exert his speed directly. He was caught up by Vida. When he got close to him, his body was suppressed and the ball was intercepted.

Croatia quickly organized a counterattack.

After intercepting the ball from Bernardo Silva, Rakitic quickly passed the ball to the right, Kramaric made a cross, and Mandzukic headed the ball from seven meters in front of the goal, but the ball hit Patricio's arms.

Then, Modric took a long shot from the left side of the penalty area, but missed the goal.

Portugal also launched an attack in the fifth minute. After C Ronaldo pulled to the left rib and got the ball, he passed it directly to Bruno who was in the back row, but Lovren was prepared and poked the ball away first. Bernardo Silva's long shot went wide.

Being on the court, Bruno clearly felt that the Croatian players were really fighting and they were in good shape.

In the tenth minute of the game, the Portuguese midfielder made a mistake in passing the ball, and Croatia launched a quick counterattack. Mandzukic started quickly after receiving the ball and drove straight into the game with the ball.

However, Portugal's defense was solid and did not allow Croatia's attack to threaten the goal.

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The game continues.

When the game reached the 29th minute, the Portuguese midfielder intercepted the ball, and William Carvalho made a straight pass to Ronaldo's feet.

Ronaldo dribbled the ball into the penalty area from the right rib, and when facing Lovren, he suddenly pulled the ball sideways, intending to shoot with his left foot, but Vida came to assist at the same time, making Ronaldo's shooting idea fail.

As a last resort, Ronaldo passed the ball diagonally to the left rib with his left foot.

Bruno quickly inserted and calmly shot with his right foot to score the first goal for Portugal.

1: 0!

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When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the entire Fisht Olympic Stadium was filled with deafening cheers.

More than 20,000 Portuguese fans rushed out of their seats, singing, shouting and celebrating wildly.

The big red scoreboard showed the final score of the game.

Portugal beat Croatia 1:0 thanks to Bruno's goal in the first half.

There is no doubt that the best and most threatening player in this game was Bruno.

After the game, Bruno was also selected as the best player of the game.

He was the most threatening Portuguese player in this game and the player who brought the greatest challenge to Croatia's defense. In addition to that goal, he also made wonderful assists for Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva and Moutinho. It's a pity that several teammates didn't seize the opportunity in the end.

But even so, it still couldn't change the fact that Bruno performed well. He also became the player who was cheered the most by the Portuguese fans in the stands after the game.

The people have sharp eyes and they can see clearly who has contributed the most to Portugal.

In the current Portuguese team, there are only two players who are indispensable.

One is the captain Cristiano Ronaldo who attacks the front court and leads his teammates in the locker room. The other is Bruno who works diligently in the midfield, often passes wonderful balls and has the ability to score from behind.

Moutinho and Bernardo Silva's performances this year are indeed amazing, with eye-catching contributions on both offense and defense, but he is still not as important as Bruno and Ronaldo.