At the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Cristiano Ronaldo created history as Portugal defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 thanks to a late goal from Francisco Conceicao.

Ronaldo was chosen in Roberto Martinez’s starting lineup, making him the first player to appear in six European Championships.

In the first half, the 39-year-old had three chances to celebrate the historic event with a goal. He initially headed wide before forcing Jindrich Stanek to make two excellent saves.

Portugal was completely taken aback when Lukas Provod scored an incredible goal to give the Czech Republic an unexpected lead after they had dominated the first hour.

Regretfully, Stanek’s push of the ball onto Robin Hranac, who could only watch it roll into the net, meant that Ivan Hasek’s team’s narrow lead would only last seven minutes.

After Liverpool’s Diogo Jota had a goal disallowed, Portugal appeared to have lost the chance to gain all three points, but that was all forgotten when Conceicao scored an incredible winner in the 92nd minute.

Provod’s blow is ineffective.

After failing to break the deadlock before the break, the Selecao continued to probe and press for the all-important opener in the second stanza.

But when the first goal eventually came in, it was a spectacular long-range effort that the Czech fans were cheering.

Provod used Vladimir Coufal’s well-timed retirement to launch an unstoppable attack into the far corner, igniting wild celebrations among the Czech players.

Their lead unfortunately turned out to be fleeting as Stanek was unable to save Nuno Mendes’s downward header, which pushed the ball past the unlucky Hranac and into the waiting net.

Jota then believed he had won it all in the 87th minute when he tucked the ball in after Ronaldo’s header struck the crossbar.

But a quick VAR review showed that the former Real Madrid striker had only erred, providing a breather for the weary Czech team.

But in his third international game, Conceicao came off the bench to make a major difference, just as the Czech Republic was beginning to think they had done enough to secure a point.

The Porto midfield took advantage of Hranac’s failure to deal with a Pedro Neto cross, blasting the ball home from close range to snatch all three points in the most dramatic of circumstances.

What lies ahead for the Czech Republic and Portugal?

Following an incredible comeback, Portugal will concentrate on Saturday’s challenging match against a confident Turkey team, coming off a 3-1 victory against Georgia.

The Czech Republic will need to be ready for their second group match at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg against Georgia.