Serbia overturned a 0-2 deficit to share the spoils against Portugal 2-2 at home on Saturday. Jota’s first half brace was not enough as record breaking Mitrovic and Kostic scored in the second half to deny the away side all three points.
It was an open affair throughout as Serbia and Portugal had 16 and 12 shots respectively at each other’s goals.
Portugal began proceedings on a brighter note as they kept the ball well and forced Serbia to sit deep and soak up the early pressure.
Ronaldo had the earliest chance to open the scoring but he blazed his shot over the crossbar which the no 7 would be disappointed with.
The visitors did not have to wait long as Diego Jota put them ahead in the 11th minute as he headed home Bernardo Silva’s cross to make it 1-0.
Jota made it 2-0 in the 36th minute as he glanced his header home from an excellent Cedric cross after some play by Silva. It was a move meriting a goal as Portugal carved open the hosts.
Drajan Stojkovic made a double substitution in the second half as the Serbians did not test the Portuguese keeper at all during the opening half by bringing on Maksimovic and Radonjic.
The move paid off immediately as Mitrovic made it 2-1 within a minute after the restart as he got onto Radonjic’s cross and poked the ball past Lopes to pull one back for the hosts.
This was Mitrovic’s 38th goal for the country which made him the official top scorer in Serbia’s history and that too in just 62 appearances.
Serbia picked up the pace once they scored and saw more of the ball as Tadic had his volley tipped over the bar by Lopes when he looked to equalize.
Milinkovic-Savic almost made it 2-2 with his header but it flew inches wide of the post.
However, Serbia completed the comeback in the 60th minute when Kostic scored through a superb counter-attack as he placed his finish past Lopes to make it 2-2.
Maksimovic had his shot denied by a tremendous block from Dias in the 63rd minute as the hosts looked for a winner.
Serbia put themselves under a lot of pressure in searching for a winner and paid for it as Milenkovic was shown a straight red for a high lunge on Danilo as he caught him on the ankle with the studs up. A dangerous tackle which deserved a red.
There was more drama but this time at the other end as Ronaldo felt he had scored the winner only for the referee to deny his claims as he deemed it to cleared off the line by Stefan Mitrovic. Ronaldo was shown a yellow for his protests.
This was the last piece of action in a pulsating 2-2 draw as Portugal and Serbia drop points after winning their opening fixtures.
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