Ajer’s volley put Norway ahead in Porto, and Ramos sent Portugal into the Nations League quarter-finals

Portugal went behind to a goal good enough to win most games, and still came away from the Estadio do Dragao with a fourth straight Nations League win. Kristoffer Ajer volleyed Norway in front on 36 minutes, Joao Cancelo answered two minutes later, and Goncalo Ramos scored the winner 11 minutes from time as Portugal beat Norway 2-1 in Porto on Sunday, 4 October.

The result sends Jorge Jesus’s side into the quarter-finals with two group games to spare. It came without Cristiano Ronaldo, who left the camp on Wednesday, and despite Francisco Conceicao getting himself sent off late on.

Two goals in two minutes

Ajer’s goal came out of nothing. Martin Odegaard swung a free-kick towards the edge of the area, the Norway centre-back took it down on his chest and volleyed it into the far corner before it touched the ground. Diogo Costa had no chance. For a side that had lost to Portugal in Oslo and then to Wales in Cardiff, it looked like the start of something.

It lasted two minutes. Nuno Mendes launched a long throw into the box, Norway failed to clear it, and Cancelo got there first to smash it past Egil Selvik. Cancelo had been booked early for a foul on David Moller Wolfe, and he went close to a second goal soon after half-time.

Ramos keeps scoring

The winner was another for Ramos, the striker Jesus picked ahead of Ronaldo. Joao Felix set him up and he finished from close range on 79 minutes. That is three goals in three games for Ramos in this international break, with one in Oslo, one in Copenhagen and now this.

Portugal should have been more comfortable. Ruben Neves, on as a substitute, sliced over from point-blank range. Then, on 86 minutes, Conceicao went down in the box looking for a penalty and was booked for diving instead. He kept on at the referee and got a second yellow almost straight away. Ten men saw it out.

A worry for Norway, and maybe for Manchester City

Erling Haaland had three shots and only one real chance, which he dragged wide. He signalled to the bench and came off in the 67th minute, and anyone watching for Manchester City will have noticed. Stale Solbakken played it down afterwards, suggesting the plan had been for Haaland to keep going until he had nothing left to give. It was his fourth start in 11 days.

Norway are now on three points after four games, level with Wales. Denmark beat Wales 1-0 in Cardiff on the same night through a Rasmus Hojlund penalty and sit second on six. Portugal have 12, which means nobody can catch them for a top-two place.

Jesus leaves the door open

The questions after the game were about Ronaldo, as they have been all week. Jesus did not shut anything down this time. “I don’t know what will happen. For me, everything is possible,” he said. “It’s up to Cris to decide his fate. If he is playing and wants to join the national team in the next call-up, why not? There is no resentment, it was just a misunderstanding, and in my opinion it is easy to resolve.”

He also admitted the start had surprised even him. “Four matches, four wins. It’s a run that I perhaps did not expect when I started, regardless of how much I believe in this team.”

The holders are through to the March 2027 quarter-finals. Whether Ronaldo is part of that, at 41, now looks like his decision more than his coach’s.

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