Eduard Spertsyan commented on the heavy defeat against Portugal

Armenia national team captain Eduard Spertsyan spoke after the 1–9 loss to Portugal in the 2026 World Cup qualifier. The match took place on November 16 in Porto.

Spertsyan scored Armenia’s only goal. It was his 11th goal for the national team, allowing the midfielder to rise to fourth place on Armenia’s all-time top scorers list.

• Henrikh Mkhitaryan — 32
• Yura Movsisyan — 14
• Gevorg Ghazaryan — 14
• Eduard Spertsyan — 11
• Marcos Pizzelli — 11
• Artur Petrosyan — 11
• Tigran Barseghyan — 9
• Edgar Manucharyan — 9

“In football, this also happens. But matches like this give us even more motivation to grow. We don’t give up and we keep working — everything is ahead of us. Thanks to everyone who supported us and cared,” Spertsyan wrote on his Telegram channel.

The match against Portugal was Armenia’s final game of 2024 and concluded their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. The team, coached by Yegishe Melikyan, finished fourth in Group F with 3 points.

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