Portugal v Czechia - Euro 2024 result as last-gasp Conceicao strike secures win while Ronaldo makes history

That's twice Portugal have lifted a cross from deeper on the left with no one waiting on the other side of the area to receive it, and it's Pavel Sulc who makes the first shot of the game.

Czechia put the pressure on early doors but after good initial interplay on the right flank between Vladimir Coufal and Lukas Provod, the West Ham man can't latch onto the return pass.

Portugal get us underway but it's Czechia who are straight on the counterattack...

Just the national anthems to go, with Czechia first up...

Maybe this is just English bias, but it seems Roberto Martinez arrives at his first major tournament in charge of Portugal more scrutinised than potentially any other manager except Gareth Southgate.

With Portugal seemingly enjoying the birth of a golden generation, Martinez is routinely accused of wasting Belgium’s window of opportunity, failing to lift a trophy in three tournaments at the helm.

Like the Southgate criticism, it’s usually based more on feelings than facts, as Martinez’s Red Devils weren’t favourites in either 2018 and 2021 and were eliminated by one-goal defeats to the eventual champions on both occasions in the semi and quarter-finals respectively, but ultimately his international trophy cabinet remains bare and Portugal will hope for better.

Can he deliver it?

Roberto Martinez has been forced to make big calls all over the pitch, in a Portugal squad that is probably still underrated given how much talent is available in every single position.

Pepe becomes the oldest player in Euros history with Ruben Dias and Nuno Mendes in defence instead of the highly-rated Antonio Silva or Goncalo Inacio, while midfielder Joao Neves is also linked with a big-money summer transfer but finds himself on the bench.

The midfield and attacking options Portugal possess from the top teams in the top leagues are plentiful but despite playing in the Saudi Pro League, Cristiano Ronaldo was the second-highest scorer in qualifying behind Romelu Lukaku so earns his place as the first player to appear in six European championships.

Portugal (3-4-3): Costa, Dias, Pepe, Mendes, Dalot, Fernandes, Vitinha, Cancelo, Silva, Ronaldo, Leao.

Coach Ivan Hasek has made it clear he wants to base his team around Slavia and Sparta Prague and they supply six of the starting XI with two more from domestic rivals Viktoria Plzen.

Hammers Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek are present and correct, with the latter dropping back to defensive midfielder after the cycling injury suffered by expected starter Michal Sadilek on the eve of the tournament.

Patrik Schick was the talk of the tournament three years ago but has only played seven times and scored three since then for Czechia, he leads the line tonight after a solid but unspectacular season with Bayer Leverkusen when he was fourth in their goalscoring charts.

Czechia (3-1-4-2): Stanek, Hranac, Krejci, Holes, Soucek, Coufal, Doudera, Provod, Sulc, Schick, Kuchta.

The highlights of this tournament so far have been the screamers and the screaming fans, and we're hoping for more of the same tonight on both fronts! Both sets of supporters have already been taking over Leipzig for the East German city's first game of the tournament, ready for a genuinely unpredictable game.

Portugal could well cut loose with such an exciting attack, but fellow former champions Czechia still pose a threat and the rain is holding off so far too...

Just the one other game today, with Group F the last to get going in this tournament. It had a bit of everything though, precipitated by a torrential downpour in Dortmund before Mert Muldur scored a contender for goal of the tournament that you simply MUST check out.

Georgia responded with their first-ever goal in a major tournament though, but Turkey's second stunning strike proved to be the difference, this time from Arda Guler, Georgia through everything they had to secure a point but ultimately conceded a late third.

Every team has now featured apart from our two protagonists tonight and Germany, Spain, England, Netherlands and Romania top Groups A-E so far.

Tonight is also a Euros debut for the rebranded Czechia, after their FA officially switched from the Czech Republic in 2022 but failed to qualify for Qatar. It’s been a long time coming for the country as official efforts for the English-speaking world to switch to their shorter name ramped up in 2016, but were slow to reach the sporting world.

Schick fired the Czech Republic to a narrow quarter-final defeat to Denmark in 2021 and it was in December of that year that ice hockey - the country’s national sport - officially switched to Czechia.

A few months later, a conference of all sports associations was held at the Czernin Palace in April 2022 and following that meeting the Czech FA announced they’d change, followed by the UN, UEFA and the IOC.

Don’t ever let them say sport isn’t educational!

Czechia lit up the last edition of the Euros, but haven’t really looked like the same team since. They failed in two cracks at reaching the 2022 World Cup after finishing third in their group and were only runners-up in arguably the weakest Euro 2024 qualifying group too, behind Albania.

They beat North Macedonia thanks to a 98th-minute penalty in their last match before this tournament - it was only coach Ivan Hasek’s fourth game in charge as Jaroslav Silhavy resigned after ensuring qualification.

They’re the fourth-favourites to lift the Henri Delaunay Cup, and looking at Portugal’s squad it’s easy to see why - there’s no space for Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos and Diogo Jota in tonight’s starting XI as Cristiano Ronaldo is selected by Roberto Martinez.

The only country to win every qualifier, Portugal also boasted the best attacking and defensive records of any team, scoring 36 and conceding just twice, and it would be a major surprise if they fail to win Group F.

discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer.

It’s been a European Championships that has delivered everything expected and more so far, and this game already has a lot to live up to after Turkey and Georgia played out a barnstormer earlier - storm being the operative part of that.

Portugal and Czechia are the last two teams to kick off their Euro 2024 campaigns, and have had dramatically contrasting buildups to the tournament. Despite two recent friendly defeats, Portugal were rampant in qualifying while Czechia have endured more upheaval but papered over it with four wins from four this year against largely inferior opponents.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe break more records tonight for a Portugal side that’s expected to dictate play with plenty of stars on show, but Czechia play best on the break and will threaten at set-pieces and it’s just 45 minutes until this fascinating fixture gets underway in Leipzig!