Poland forward Arkadiusz Milik scored from a twice-taken penalty to give his already-relegated side a 1-1 draw in Portugal in their final Nations League match on Tuesday.
Portugal, who had already qualified for next year's semi-finals as winners of Group A3, went ahead with Andre Silva's near-post header from a corner in the 34th minute, his 15th goal in 31 appearances for the European champions.
Yet the hosts gave away a penalty when midfielder Danilo tripped Milik as he burst into the area and was sent off.
Milik's first effort from the spot was disallowed for encroachment, but he held his nerve to score again at the second attempt in the 66th minute.
Portugal, without Cristiano Ronaldo who has not been selected since the World Cup, finished the group unbeaten with eight points from four games while Poland ended with two, both picked up away from home.
Although Poland's overall peformance in the first edition of the League of Nations was rather disappointing, Jerzy Brzęczek's team managed to secure their place in the first pot of Euro 2020 qualifications draw. Poor performance by the German team in their group pushed the 2014 world champions to the second pot.
Tuesday was a lucky day not only for Poland's senior national team, but also for the the U-21 youth team, as they beat Portugal away 3:1 in the second leg of the Euro 2019 qualification play-off. Portugal won in the first leg in Poland 1:0 and many predicted their success in the second game. However, the stunning first half by Poles which they won 3:0 gave them the ticket for the next year's tournament in Italy.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters