Jesus begins his career with Portugal with a difficult victory over Wales 1-0 in the Nations League

Coach Jorge Jesus began his career as head of the coaching staff of his country, Portugal, with a difficult victory over Wales 1-0, on Thursday, in the first round of Group D competitions in the first level of the European Nations League in its fifth edition.

Jesus, 71 years old, started his first match with Portugal, which won the Nations League title in 2019 and 2025, with the main participation of veteran Cristiano Ronaldo, who described the arrival of his former coach at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia as “the beginning of a new era.”

But Ronaldo, 41 years old, was unable to score despite his many attempts, at a time when he continues his quest to reach the 1,000th goal in his career, after raising his score to 979 goals with clubs and the national team.

Portugal will play three more matches within nine days in Group Four, starting on September 27, as it faces Norway back and forth, and between the two matches it will meet Denmark.

In the same group, Norway beat Denmark 3-2, led by top scorer Erling Haaland, who scored two goals in the 18th and 74th minutes, after Oscar Popp opened the scoring in the 14th minute. Mikkel Damsgaard and Rasmus Hoylund scored goals for Denmark in the 25th and 60th minutes, while Norwegian substitute David Wolff was sent off in the third minute of stoppage time.

In Lisbon, Portugal imposed almost complete control over the first half and its players shot 13 times, but accuracy was lacking in most of the attempts, especially Ronaldo, who shot five times without any real threat to the Welsh goal.

Joao Felix succeeded in scoring the only goal with a low shot from outside the penalty area, bringing the Saudi Al-Nasr striker his tally to 13 international goals.

Ronaldo thought he had succeeded in scoring when he was alone with goalkeeper Danny Ward, but the goal was canceled after returning to the video assistant referee due to offside.

The Portugal captain did not complete the match, as he left in the 67th minute, leaving his place to Italian Milan striker Goncalo Ramos.

The hosts' performance declined in the second half despite creating a number of chances, but they maintained their lead until the end, giving the defending champions a successful start and extending their streak without losing at home to 11 matches, including 10 victories.

On the other hand, the pressure has increased on Wales coach Craig Bellamy, who has not achieved any wins in his last five matches, after drawing two matches and losing three matches.

Roberto Mancini, the coach of the Italian national team, called on his players to turn the page on the loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina and focus on facing Belgium, on Friday, in the European Nations League at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Italy opens its campaign against Belgium in Group A during the international break, which will also witness two matches against France and Turkey.

The match will be the first match for the Italian national team under Mancini's leadership after returning to his position, and it is also the team's first official match since its loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties, which prevented it from qualifying for the World Cup this summer.

Mancini said in the press conference on the eve of the match: “We spent two important days in training. “We hope to make the right decisions, and the players are ready.”

He added, in statements reported by the British news agency, PA Media: “Tomorrow’s match will be exciting as usual, and we hope to start well.” We have to get over what happened in Bosnia immediately.”

Mancini is running his second term as head of the Italian national team's coaching staff, after he returned to the position last July, succeeding Gennaro Gattuso, who resigned in April after failing to qualify for the World Cup.