Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United and Diogo Dalot of Croatia masterfully teamed to break the deadlock for Portugal in their 2-1 victory.

Portugal’s first Nations League Group A encounter versus Croatia was played at Estádio da Luz.

Dalot’s and former United striker Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals were all the Selecao needed to overcome Croatia and earn all three points.

Seven minutes in, Dalot scored his first goal after getting into a dangerous area and being discovered by his club captain, who made a wonderful ball.

With a deft touch, the full-back ducked under the Croatian custodian Dominik Livakovic and sent the ball into the back of the net, well beyond his grasp.

Just before halftime, Dalot would turn the ball into his own net, but Portugal ultimately prevailed, so it didn’t really matter.

During the time he was on the pitch, Dalot made two clearances and half as many interceptions.

The 25-year-old made an impressive three tackles. He delved into eight ground duels and came out on top just three times. He didn’t win the one aerial duel he was required to contest.

Dalot touched the ball 56 times and successfully found his Portugal teammates with 34 of the 39 passes he attempted. One of his passes was a key pass.

Meanwhile, Fernandes had 55 touches of the ball to his name and an individual pass completion rate of 91%. One pass was a key one – for Dalot’s opening strike. He also created one big chance.

The United skipper successfully connected with one of the two long balls he pinged. He attempted three shots, two of which required Livakovic to swing into action while the other didn’t trouble the Croatia shot-stopper.

Fernandes won just one of his five duels on the ground and none aerially. He made one tackle and two interceptions for his national side.