Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 137th international goal for Portugal as they came from a goal down to beat Germany and reach the Nations League final.
The 40-year-old tapped in Nuno Mendes’ low pass in the 68th minute for what proved to be the winner and set up a final against either France or Spain.
Ronaldo’s effort came just five minutes after Francisco Conceicao had cancelled out a 48th-minute Florian Wirtz opener for the hosts.
Portugal won the first tournament in 2019, but their hopes of a second success looked slim when they fell behind in Munich.
Bayer Leverkusen forward Wirtz, close to completing a £109m move to Premier League champions Liverpool, headed Germany in front, connecting with a clever lofted ball over the defence by Joshua Kimmich, who was making his 100th appearance.
Portugal were furious the goal was allowed to stand as they thought German debutant Nick Woltemade had blocked off defender Ruben Dias and, despite referee Slavko Vincic being advised to watch the incident again on a pitchside monitor, the strike was allowed to stand.
But substitute Conceicao scored a fine 63rd-minute equaliser.
Having only come on five minutes earlier, he collected the ball close to the right touchline before running at the home defence and curling an excellent finish past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Ronaldo, unmarked from close range, added the decisive second goal to turn the tie around, although Germany nearly forced extra time when Karim Adeyemi’s strike hit the post. Mm
France and Spain play the second semi-final in Stuttgart on Thursday, with the final in Munich on Sunday.
Conceicao follows in father’s footsteps for landmark win
The match had been delayed by 10 minutes because of hail storms in Munich as the Allianz Arena hosted its second major game of the week after the Champions League final on Saturday, when Paris St-Germain dismantled Inter Milan 5-0.
Germany had the better of the opportunities in the opening 45 minutes as visiting goalkeeper Diogo Costa did well to get down quickly to stop Leon Goretzka’s well-struck effort and kept out a shot from Stuttgart forward Woltemade too.
Portugal only had a tame Ronaldo effort on target in the opening period, with Julian Nagelsmann’s side taking a deserved lead through Wirtz’s header, before the introduction of the lively Conceicao transformed the game.
His side were suddenly dominant and, after their two goals, Portugal had further chances as Ter Stegen made a brilliant double stop to deny Liverpool’s Diogo Jota and the follow-up from Conceicao.
But it did not matter in the end as Roberto Martinez’s men claimed a first competitive win over Germany since Euro 2000, when Conceicao’s father Sergio scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win.
This is the fourth edition of the Nations League with Portugal winning in 2019, France in 2021 and Spain in 2023.
Player of the match
Cristiano Ronaldo
[BBC]