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Portugal fell to a 2-1 defeat away to Ukraine at the Stadion NSK Olumpiyskiy in Group B of the Euro 2020 qualification series.
The home side raced into the lead as early as the sixth minute when Roman Yaremchuk converted from close range after Rui Patricio had parried Sergey Krivstok's header into his path and Andriy Yarmolenko made it 2-0 20 minutes later.
The West Ham forward showed guile to evade two Portuguese defenders to head home a cross by Vitali Mykolenko, but Ukraine got reduced to ten men after Taras Stepanek was shown a second yellow for handling in the box midway through the second half.
Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to convert the ensuing penalty and even though Portugal rallied to find an equalizer with their one-man advantage, the hosts held on for the win.
Here, we shall be highlighting three talking points from the fixture.
#3 Ukraine qualify for Euro 2020
Ukraine have been in impressive form during the qualification stage for Euro 2020 and came into the fixture with Portugal as Group B leaders.
Under the legendary Andriy Shevchenko's management, the former Soviet nation has impressed, winning five of their first six games, with the only setback coming in the first-leg goalless draw with Portugal.
That run saw them score 13 goals and concede just one and they needed just a point against Portugal to ensure their progress to the European championship next summer.
They went two better by getting all three points to send them eight clear of their nearest challengers in the group and with that, they are assured of top spot and concordantly qualification to Euro 2020.
While not entirely fatal, the defeat means that Portugal have their work cut out, as they are just one point ahead of Serbia with two matches to go, although they could also secure qualification for Euro 2020 via the playoff spots allocated to the Nations League Group winner.
#2 Ronaldo scores his 700th career goal
When Cristiano Ronaldo took his first tentative steps towards becoming a professional footballer on the streets of Madeira, he always knew he was headed to the top.
His professional debut came in October 2002 for Sporting Lisbon and while the talent might have been evident from the get-go, it would have been far-fetched to suggest that he would one day play his way into the pantheons of the greatest in history.
Ronaldo's 72nd-minute penalty against Ukraine brought his career total to 700 goals and to put this into perspective, only five players before him in history have officially reached this mark.
Incredibly, in 2012, the Juventus player had just 200 career goals, which means that he has scored a whopping 500 goals for club and country in the last seven years which is mind-boggling considering the fact that he turned 30 four years ago.
A breakdown of Ronaldo's goals shows that he has scored 605 for various clubs viz: Sporting Lisbon (5), Manchester United (118), Real Madrid (450) and Juventus (32), while he has scored 95 for his national team.
Speaking of his national team, he is now just 14 goals short of the all-time international record set by Ali Daei (109) and at this rate, the smart money would be on backing Ronaldo to shatter that record in the next few years.
Take 700 bows, Senhor Ronaldo.
#1 First defeat in 14 matches for Portugal
Ever since their ouster in the World Cup round-of-16 at the hands of Uruguay last year, Portugal posted some impressive results, culminating in the UEFA Nations League triumph earlier in the year.
Following that 2-1 defeat to Los Celeste in Sochi, Portugal went on a 13-match unbeaten run, winning eight and drawing five of those.
Impressive victories were recorded over Italy, Netherlands and Switzerland in the Nations League, while there were also routine wins over minnows like Lithuania and Luxembourg in Euro qualification.
A tactical masterclass by Andriy Shevchenko brought their run to an end and while it might have been gutting to taste defeat for the first time in over a year, Los Selecao can get back to winning ways when they host Lithuania on matchday 9 of the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
