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Eder strike helps Portugal edge past Italy

A second-half strike from Eder is enough to give Portugal a 1-0 friendly win against Italy in their clash at the Stade de Geneve.

A second-half strike from Eder has given Portugal a 1-0 win against Italy in their friendly clash at the Stade de Geneve.

Portugal's forward Eder (R) scores the team's first goal against Italy's goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu (C) and Italy's defender Leonardo Bonucci during the friendly game Portugal against Italy on the Stade de Geneve on June 16, 2015© Getty Images

The game went through the motions in the early stages, but the Azzurri came close to breaking the deadlock in the 19th minute.

Andrea Bertolacci seized on a loose ball in the Portugal box after Antonio Candreva's pass to Ciro Immobile was intercepted, but the Genoa man lashed his shot just wide of the left post.

There was a moment of concern for Portugal as Fabio Coentrao was forced to come off in the 24th minute after going down clutching his hamstring, despite his attempts to shake the injury off and continue.

Despite the break in play, the action continued as Stephan El Shaarawy marauded into the box from the left channel, cut inside and fired an effort that struck the wrong side of the net.

Moments later it looked like Portugal would draw first blood after Eder's cutback from the byline found Silvestre Varela, but the Porto winger's strike was cleared off the line by Andrea Ranocchia.

Fernando Santos's charges ended the first half in a dominant position but were unable to convert their superiority into goals as both sides went in goalless at the break.

Italy were sharper following the restart as they bore forward, but Leonardo Bonucci was guilty of missing a gilt-edged chance from six yards out following a corner.

Antonio Conte's side would rue that miss because, in the 52nd minute, Ricardo Quaresma curled a pinpoint cross into the box for Eder, who snuck in between the Italy defence to smash home from close range.

It was difficult for the game to maintain much momentum as both sides made a spate of substitutions, but Italy came within a whisker of equalising when Andrea Pirlo's threaded pass found Matteo Darmian, only for the Torino full-back to fire wide.

Portugal had their goalkeeper Beto to thank in the latter stages as the Sevilla stopper kept out Manolo Gabbiadini's goalbound strike just two minutes from time and the Euro 2004 finalists held on for the win.

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Andrea Belotti of Italy in action during the 2015 UEFA European U21 Championships Qualifier match between Italy U21 and Serbia U21 at Adriatico Stadium on September 5, 2014
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