BELGRADE, March 28 (Reuters) - Serbia and Portugal fought out a 1-1 draw in a highly entertaining Euro 2008 Group A qualifier on Wednesday.

Tiago fired Portugal into a fifth-minute lead and Bosko

Jankovic put the Serbs back on level terms in the 37th minute to

the delight of a raucous 51,000 home crowd.

Both sides missed plenty of chances in a pulsating match

which put them level on 11 points from six matches along with

Finland, who suffered a 1-0 setback at Azerbaijan earlier on

Wednesday. All three are five points behind group leaders

Poland.

Portugal took the lead with their first meaningful venture

into the Serbian half when Tiago unleashed a swerving shot from

20 metres that sailed over keeper Vladimir Stojkovic who was

caught out of position.

The Serbs piled on the pressure and came close to drawing

level through Nemanja Vidic before Jankovic equalised with a

diving close-range header from Dejan Stankovic's corner.

The visitors nearly went ahead less than a minute later when

Nuno Gomes slid in at the near post and fired just wide while

Jankovic and Milos Krasic tormented the Portuguese defence with

darting runs at the other end.

Stojkovic denied Tiago twice after the break when he

produced acrobatic saves to keep out venomous long-range shots

from the Lyon midfielder.

The keeper also did well to parry a 75th-minute free kick

from Cristiano Ronaldo, who had a quiet game on the left flank

but was booked in the first half for dissent.

Portugal coach Felipe Scolari said he was pleased with the

performance and result 'because it was achieved against a very

strong team who are in the same bracket with us in terms of

quality,' he told reporters.

'This is a very tough group and it seems qualification will

be won and lost against the underdogs, who have caused quite a

few upsets already.

'I think we are in a good position though because we have

plenty of home matches left and it may well make the difference

at the end of the road.'

Clemente was also satisfied to come away with a point after

his players had to hang on in the closing stages.

'We were on the back foot in the second half but we played

very well in the first,' he said.

'We knew we needed to deploy more players on the flanks

because that's where Portugal usually carve up their rivals.'