North Macedonia's heroes have warned Cristiano Ronaldo they're coming for him and Portugal next after knocking European champions Italy out of the World Cup.
Blagoja Milevski's side defeated to Azzurri 1-0 thanks to a stunning late strike from Aleksandar Trajkovski. The result means Italy have failed to qualify for a second successive World Cup, but North Macedonia's hopes of reaching a maiden tournament remain alive.
They will face Portugal in Porto on Tuesday evening for a place in Qatar. Few backed North Macedonia to beat Italy and Angelovski's players celebrated together at full-time in the dressing room, joyously throwing their arms around each other in Palermo.
Their celebrations on Thursday evening weren't too wild, however, due to their upcoming game. North Macedonia's only appearance at a major tournament since the break up of Yugoslavia came last summer, failing to win a single point at Euro 2020.
Yet captain Stefan Ristovski is confident they can qualify for Qatar. "I am overjoyed with the victory and I expect a great welcome on my return to North Macedonia," he said. "Can we beat Portugal? Yes, we will win. We will do everything to win and we will do it."
Manager Milevski added: "I am very happy for Trajkovski with his goal. The game was prepared in this way, we know that Italy are a great team with several champions but we played as we should. We know our strengths. Before the game I told the guys to have fun and they did just that."
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Ronaldo's Portugal progressed on Thursday evening after a 3-1 win against Turkey. Burak Yilmaz had the chance to score a late equaliser when the score was 2-1, but the veteran Lille striker fired his penalty over the crossbar.
"These games are finals," said Portugal manager Fernando Santos. "Finals are always complicated. We won the first one and now we have to win the second.... we have to focus on North Macedonia, which will be a difficult game for sure. If they managed to beat Italy that means it's going to be very difficult."
Italy, meanwhile, were devastated with the defeat. They haven't won a knockout game at the World Cup since the final in 2006 and have won just once at the finals. That was their 2-1 victory against Roy Hodgson's England in Brazil in 2014.
Roberto Mancini's side looked certain to qualify for Qatar after beating England in the final of Euro 2020 last July, yet their campaign collapsed in the autumn - winning just one of their final five qualifiers. They also failed to win the Nations League finals.
"This summer I had my greatest joy and today is the biggest disappointment," said Mancini at full-time. "It's hard to speak. I'm really sorry for the players. It's a team that has played very well and who won the Euros last summer by deserving it.
"That's football. When you lose, you have to suffer and remain silent, there is nothing to do. It's difficult to comment on a match where we shot perhaps 40 times on goal [32 times] without scoring, and suffered a goal in the 92nd minute. That's how it is.
"The players have a great future, they are strong and have a future with the national team. It's a difficult moment, and it will be in the next few days. It's the law of football."
