Wolves star Nelson Semedo featured for Portugal last night, as the nation absolutely thrashed Luxembourg in their latest Euro 2024 qualifier.
Roberto Martinez’s side had ground out a narrow 1-0 win over Slovakia last Friday.
But this was a far, far easier game for the Selecao.
And it ought to have been, really, with Luxembourg currently only ranked 89th in the world by FIFA.
Goncalo Inacio, Goncalo Ramos and former Wolves winger Diogo Jota all hit braces.
And Ricardo Horta, Bruno Fernandes and Joao Felix also scored, as Portugal ran out 9-0 winners on the night.
The result means Portugal are firmly in control of their group, having won all six of their games so far, scoring 24 and not yet conceding a single goal.
Wolves star Nelson Semedo makes first start for Portugal since November 2021
It was good to see Semedo get a run out from the start for Portugal – something he has not done since November 2021.
Semedo’s inconsistency at Molineux in recent times has meant he’s been sat on the periphery a bit with Portugal.
But Martinez called him up for this latest squad, and it looks as though the manager rates him more than Fernando Santos.
Last night, Semedo played for just over an hour.
He had a decent outing, winning 4/8 duels and completing 38/42 passes (90%), two of which were ‘key’. He also completed 3/4 dribbles (via Sofascore).
It is reported by PortuGOAL that Semedo linked up very well with Manchester City star Bernardo Silva on the right.
Taking to Instagram, Semedo uploaded a couple of photos along with the caption ‘Grande vitória’, which simply means ‘Great win’.
Pedro Neto replied saying ‘Pride’, while United maestro Fernandes commented ‘What a game’.
Nice to see Semedo back in the fold
Some were quite surprised to see Semedo starting for Portugal last night.
Martinez does have other options at his disposal such as Joao Cancelo and Diogo Dalot.
But the Wolves man appears to have made an impression on Martinez, who is of course a former Premier League manager and likely is a regular watcher.
It’s nice to see the £29 million man back in the picture.
But Wolves fans will just be hoping to see a bit more consistency from him at Molineux.
He was amazing in the first game against Manchester United but was then poor at Brighton, average at Everton and then not great against Crystal Palace.