PORTUGAL drew with Italy 0-0 Saturday to pick up the point it needed to qualify for the UEFA Nations League finals and confirm itself as host of the first Final Four in June.

Cristiano Ronaldo is taking a break from the national team and wasn’t present at San Siro, just as he wasn’t in Portugal’s first two Nations League matches — both of which they won.

“There’s a lot of satisfaction at having reached the final phase,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said.

“It was a difficult match, much more than we thought it would be. When we had the ball it was difficult to build and that was merit to Italy and demerit to us. Italy had a great game.”

Poland has already been assured of finishing last in Group A3 and will be relegated to League B, and Italy will finish second.

All three expressed interest in staging the finals so the winners of the group were always assured of being host.

Portugal proposed Porto’s Estadio do Dragao and the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques in Guimaraes as host venues in their bid dossier and they are expected to be ratified by UEFA at a meeting of its executive committee Dec. 3, when the draw will also take place.

Despite failing to qualify for the finals, there are positive signs for the Azzurri a year after Italian soccer’s darkest moment.

Italy dominated and had the better of the chances in front of a packed crowd in Milan but ended with a sixth successive home draw.

The Azzurri have also scored only twice in four matches in the competition — but only conceded as many.(SD-Agencies)