Leon Goretzka scored for the Bavarian first, before Jean-Paul Boetius grabbed an equaliser at the Opel Arena. Thiago Alcantara later snatched what proved to be the winner soon after the hour mark. Most of the Bayern players raced towards the Spain midfielder after his strike, but Kimmich took a diversion via Sanches first, something he later explained.

Thiago Alcantara celebrating after scoring a winner for Bayern Munich

“The second goal, it’s [Sanches] that won the ball,” he told Sport1. “The determination he showed to win back possession ultimately won us the game. Of course, [Robert Lewandowski] also played the ball well and Thiago finished it, but it’s not always the scorer who decides the game.”

Sanches was a European champion with Portugal and Golden Boy winner when he joined Bayern from Benfica in 2016, but initially struggled to settle at the Allianz Arena and spent last season on loan with Swansea City.

The midfielder, now 21, appears to be settling into his stride under Niko Kovac’s guidance, though, and Kimmich is full of admiration for the powerful midfielder who now seems to have the mental strength to go with his physicality.

“I take my hat off to him,” continued Kimmich. “It takes some guts to come here alone at 18. He didn’t have it so easy the first time around but then to come back and clearly state that he wanted to succeed – it’s remarkable how he’s done that, mentally.”

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The 90 minutes ended with both the teams level on 1-1, Lewandowski scoring in the 2nd minute for the Polish and Renato Sanches equalising for the Portuguese in the 33^rd minute.

The game was even level after extra time and it had to be settled in a penalty shoot-out.

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo led the team in the penalties as Rui Patricio saved Jakub Blaszczykowski’s shot and Ricardo Quaresma scored the deciding penalty for Portugal to give his team a 5-3 win.

The star man was not the usual suspect-Cristiano Ronaldo but rather 18-year-old Renato Sanches who was starting his first game for Portugal.

Sanches scored with a spectacular shot from distance to cancel out Robert Lewandowski‘s early goal for Poland, and then converted his penalty in the shoot-out.

Renato Sanches (R) celebrates after s coring against Poland at Euro 2016.Source AFP

Portugal coach Fernando Santos was pleased by the performance of the teenager stressing that Sanches’ task was to change things.

“Things weren’t going our way and I called Renato to change something. and we were lucky enough to have him score,” Santos said.

“He played a great game. He is still growing and has a lot to offer. He will be a better player in the future.” He added.

Sanches became the youngest player to score in a knockout round at the continental competition at 18 years and 316 days old.

Portugal reached the semifinals of the football tournament without winning any of their matches in regular time while Poland saw their luck of winning a penalty shoot-out in the round-of-16 run out.

Portugal will play the winner between Belgium or Wales in Lyon on July 6.

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