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35 min: Portugal goalkeeper Ines Pereira rides to the rescue to save from Pina after a wonderful passing move featuring Alexia Putellas and Vicky Lopez. Spain are running rings around their Iberian rivals and with better final balls and finishing could be four or five goals to the good.
33 min: Spain free-kick, wide on the left. Claudia Pina whips the ball into the penalty area, where it’s headed clear. Moments later, Pina a sends another cross towards the far post, this time from open play but it’s headed clear by Fatima Pinto, who beats Caldentey to the ball. Spain are rampant.
32 min: Vicky Lopez latches on to a Caldentey ball sprayed out towards the right touchline and cuts inside but her cross to the far post sails wide.
30 min: Olga picks out a Alexia Putellas run down the inside left but the Spain No11’s cross is put for a corner by Diana Gomes before Esther Gonzalez can pounce. Nothing comes of the set-piece.
25 min: Portugal finally string a few passes together but Andreia Jacinto eschews a shooting opportunity against Adriana Nanclares, the Spanish goalkeeper who is only making her third appearance for her country. The midfielder runs into traffic and Spain are back in control of the ball.
23 min: Claudia Pina’s delivery is poor and Portugal get a brief moment of respite. Their insistence on playing the ball out from the back is not paying off, as they keep giving it away in dangerous positions. On the odd occasions they try to go long, they also lose the ball but at least on those occasions it’s a long way from their goal.
21 min: Vicky Lopez picks out Mariona Caldentey with a pull-back to the edge of the Portugal penalty area but her shot is deflected out for a corner. Nothing comes of it but now Spain have a free-kick wide on the right.
19 min: Spain attack again. Claudia Pina runs on to a through ball from Caldentey but shoots straight at Pereira. Moments later, Esther Gonzalez fires over the bar from a promising position. Portugal are emphatically under the Spanish cosh.
18 min: Spain centre-back Maria Mendez tries to pick outt a runner with a ball over the top but succeeds only in sending the ball out of play for a goal-kick.
15 min: Portugal centre-back Fatima Pinto gives the ball away on the edge of her own box, with Esther Gonzalez the beneficiary. The Spanish No9 has a clear run on goal but shoots into the side-netting from a tight angle. Pinto breathes a deep sigh of relief.
14 min: Portugal embark on a rare sortie into the Spain half but their attack comes to nothing as the offside flage goes up.
13 min: Spain are relentless. Patricio Guijarro tries to unlock the portugal defence with a through ball for Claudia Pina to chase but her pass is intercepted and cleared by Carole Costa.
11 min: It was the aforementioned Batlle who picked out Caldentey’s run down the right channel in the build-up to Spain’s second goal after seizing on a porr headed clearance from one of Portugal’s centre-backs.
10 min: Spain gallop forward again with left-back Olga trying to pick out right-back Ona Batlle with a cross to the far post. She massively overhits her delivery and the ball sails wide.
GOAL! Spain 2-0 Portugal (Lopez 7)
Spain double their lead: Vicky Lopez stretches every sinew to poke home from five yards after getting on the end of a deliciously curled Mariona Caldentey cross along the deck from the right.
6 min: Pereira is forced to punch the ball clear as Vicky Lopez crosses the ball from the left byline.
4 min: It’s an awful start from Portugal, who find themselves a goal down inside 90 seconds. Olga Carmona played a diagonal over the top from the left and Gonzalez took the ball down with either her head, her shoulder or a combination of both before scrambling it past Ines Pereira in the Portugal goal. It wasn’t the most elegant goal you’ll ever see but they all count.
GOAL! Spain 1-0 Portugal (Gonzalez 2)
Spain are ahead already! Esther Gonzalez gets in behind Portugal’s high defensive line to take down an Olga ball from deep and bundle it over the line from a few yards out.
Spain v Portugal is go ...
1 min: Their players wearing a sort of spearmint green kit, Portugal get the ball rolling. Spain’s players are in red shirts, blue shorts and red socks.
A moment of silence: With both sets of players gatherd around the centre-circle, there is a perfectly observed tribute for Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva followed by a warm round of applause. Both sets of players are wearing black armbands.
Not long now: The teams march out of the tunnel for the last of the pre-match formalities, which are likely to be more sombre than usual. They line up either side of referee Iuliana Demetrescu and her team of match officials ready for the national anthems. First up it’s Portugal, then Spain.
Portugal: There is a very sizeable contingent of Portugal fans in Bern this evening and most of those present staged a pre-match walk to the stadium in which they paid tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva. They held homemade signs, carried flags and shed no end of tears on what is going to be a very emotional evening for those in red and green.
Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Iuliana Demetrescu
Assistant referees: Mihaela Tepusa and Amina Gutschi
Fourth Official: Shona Shukrula
VAR: Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis
Suzanne Wrack
Diogo Jota and Andre Silva: England defender Lucy Bronze expressed her shock at the death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva and said the Lionesses would be “thinking of them” along with the rest of the footballing and non-footballing world, writes Suzanne Wrack from Switzerland.
“It definitely shocked all the squad when we woke up this morning and the news started to spread, said Bronze. “Obviously we have a lot of Liverpool fans in our team, and football fans, but for people in general, everyone is just thinking of them – him and his brother. They were so young as well. We have seen all the messages on social media and stuff so you can tell what a great guy he has been. It’s just really sad and we were shocked by the news, really.”
Speaking on the day that Portugal play Spain in their opening game of Euro 2025, Bronze, who is half Portuguese, said: “We’ll be watching the games tonight, Portugal play their first game against Spain and I know there will be a minute’s silence held before that game.
“I think everyone in an England shirt and everyone in the tournament will be supporting the Portuguese team because they will be a lot closer to this than we are. It is just a really sad moment for everyone involved in football, knowing what a great guy he is and what an amazing year he’s had – not just in football, but he got married a few weeks ago and he’s got little kids. It’s just so sad.”
Euro 2025: Portugal The Navigators are hopeful of reaching the knockout stage for the first time but recent form has tempered expectations. Words: Nuno Travossos.
Euro 2025 team guide: Spain The world champions’ squad contains two double Ballon d’Or winners and a place in the final is the minimum requirement, writes Amalia Fra.
Spain v Portugal line-ups
Spain: Nanclares, Batlle, Mendez, Aleixandri, Carmona, Lopez, Guijarro, Putellas, Caldentey, Gonzalez, Pina.
Subs: Sullastres, Coll, Fernandez, Bonmati, del Castillo, Ouahabi, Martin-Prieto, Garcia, Paralluelo, Redondo, Zubieta.
Portugal: Pereira, Gomes, Costa, Fatima Pinto, Fonseca, Jacinto, Norton, Tatiana Pinto, Amado, Diana Silva, Jessica Silva.
Subs: Morais, Cota-Yarde, Alves, Seica, Marchao, Nazareth, Borges, Dolores Silva, Faria, Correira, Capeta, Encarnacao.
Elsewhere in Group B: Arianna Caruso scored the only goal of the game as Italy beat Belgium at the Stade de Tourbillon in Sion in today’s early kick-off. The Bayern Munich midfielder’s curled effort from distance in the first half was enough to send Italy top of the group after one game and leave Belgium in trouble already in what is expected to be a three-way battle for second place behind Spain.
Early team news: Spain’s two-time Ballon D’Or winner Aitana Bonmati rejoined her teammates after being released from hospital after receiving treatment for viral meningitis and while she is harbouring hopes of playing in this tournament, her health must come first and while she is among the substitutes tonight, she is not expected to play until the later stages.
“With Aitana back, the entire group is now at their base camp in Lausanne, ready to take on the European dream,” said the Spanish Football Federation following her release from hospital. In her absence this evening, Vicky Lopez is expected to start in midfield alongside Alexia Putellas and Patri Guijarro. Spain are without Real Madrid midfielder Tere Abelleira and Arsenal defender Laia Codina, who are absent from this tournament through injury, while veterans Jenni Hermoso and Ivana Andrés were not picked for the squad.
Carolina Mendes will be a conspicuous abentee for Portugal, having been ruled out of the tournament through injury. Barcelona midfielder Kika Nazareth has been included in Portugal’s squad despite only returning to training last month after being sidelined with an ankle injury since March. There are also concerns over the fitness of Benfica left-back Lúcia Alves and Gotham winger Jéssica Silva. Everton goalkeeper Ines Pereira is the sole WSL representative in the Portugal squad.
Group B: Spain v Portugal
On a truly devastating day for Portuguese football, it is difficult to imagine what must be going through the minds of the players representing the nation’s women’s team as they prepare to face Spain in Bern this evening. The car accident in which Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva, also a footballer, lost their lives is one of those tragedies that has hit everyone hard, which means an already difficult assignment for Francisco Neto and his Portuguese players has been rendered immeasurably tougher. We wish each and every one of them well.
A universally popular and admired player who was renowned for his skill, tenacity, humility and cheerful disposition, Jota’s death has prompted an understandable outpouring of shock and grief throughout and beyond the football family. The players of Spain will also be struggling to process the sadness many of us are feeling at the awful news that a son, a father of three, a brother, a new husband and a very fine footballer has been lost. The weather forecast in Switzerland’s capital city tonight is for bright sunshine but this morning’s news about Diogo and André means this match will be played under a very dark cloud.
There will, of course, be a tribute to both brothers ahead of tonight’s match between these Iberian neighbours and Portugal’s players will wear black armbands as a mark of respect for their fallen comrades. “Uefa announces that a moment of silence will be observed at all of today’s and tomorrow’s Women’s Euro 2025 matches in memory of Portugal international and Liverpool FC forward Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva who tragically passed away today,” said European football’s governing body earlier today. May they rest in peace.
