Iceland marked their European Championship debut with a priceless point after a 1-1 draw with Portugal in their Group F opener at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Tuesday.

Match Summary

Former Manchester United winger Nani opened the scoring after 31 minutes, but Birkir Bjarnason levelled after 50 minutes to secure an upset result.

Both teams are now level with one point apiece in the group, Hungary at the top and Austria are bottom.

Full Report

Iceland came out the blocks quickly and had a chance as early as the third minute when Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson broke down the left wing and tricked his way into the box before he had two efforts at goal that forced Rui Patricio into a good double save.

The Portuguese mustered their first attempt in the 21st minute when a Cristiano Ronaldo cross was met by a header from Nani in the six-yard box, but Hannes Halldorsson pulled off a great point-blank save to keep the game goalless.

The deadlock was broken 10 minutes later. Neat interplay allowed Andre Gomes to find Nani in the box and the Fenerbahce winger made no mistake as he found the back of the net with a cool finish at the near post.

Iceland found the equaliser just five minutes after the interval. A brilliant cross from the right wing from Johann Gudmundsson found Bjarnason in the box and he had ample time to set himself and volley the ball home.

Ten minutes after the hour mark the lively Nani almost doubled his tally. Raphael Guerreiro’s set-piece was flicked on at the near post but the ball went agonisingly wide of the goal.

With five minutes to go Ronaldo had a golden opportunity to win the game but he sent his header straight at Halldorsson after he was picked out by a pin-point cross from Nani down the right wing.

Source Foxsports