Portugal survived a second-half fightback to beat Turkey 3-1 in Porto on Thursday and advance to the finals of the European World Cup qualifying play-offs.
First-half goals from Otavio and Diogo Jota had Portugal cruising, but Burak Yilmaz pulled one back in the second half.
The Turkey captain then missed a late penalty, and Matheus Nunes sealed Portugal’s win in stoppage time, setting up a play-off decider at home to North Macedonia next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Italy will miss their second World Cup in a row after slumping to a shock 1-0 play-off semi-final defeat to North Macedonia on Thursday.
Aleksandar Trajkovski’s low drive in the second minute of stoppage time stunned the European champions in Palermo and set-up a qualifying final with Portugal in Porto on Tuesday.
AFP