Ricardo Quaresma scored the winning penalty Thursday as Portugal beat Poland 5-3 in a shootout to reach the semifinals of the European Championship.
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Poland had started strongly, with Robert Lewandowski scoring his first goal of Euro 2016 inside two minutes in the Marseille clash before 18-year-old Sanches, his new teammate at Bayern Munich, equalised with a powerfully driven shot.
The Real Madrid forward did score with Portugal’s opening penalty of the shootout.
He said on the win: “It is a wonderful moment for the team, for me for scoring”. Poland battled well, they are a strong team, play good football, they are intense, have experience. “They are having an excellent tournament”.
Portugal’s goalscorer on the night was Renato Sanches, who also nailed a penalty in the shootout after Ronaldo had scored.
“He has to take all his qualities and put it all on the pitch and it is my job to help organise his type of play”. “He’s an awesome player, when he gets older he’ll come into his own”.
Sanches insists the nerves were not jangling after the fearless teenage nailed his spot-kick.
Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he would love to see his side triumph at Euro 2016 after they became the first team to advance to the semi-finals.
“We have to stay positive”.
“I’m very happy with the way he played”. The teenager picked up a pass from Nani and fired a shot from just outside the box, which deflected off Grzegorz Krychowiak and beat keeper Lukasz Fabianski. It takes a lot of hard work to be this lucky.
Portugal have drawn all their games over 90 minutes so far – against Iceland, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Poland – but are still through to the last four of Euro 2016.
Poland looked the more lively early on and Lewandowski’s strike partner Arkadiusz Milik twice went close. There are more positives than negatives. “We are still making progress”, he said. “Robert Lewandowski is still and always is an important player for this team, he is the captain, he leads by example on and off the pitch”. “People talk about Cristiano Ronaldo and he’s been playing some brilliant football but Pepe was fantastic”.
The sides were even through three kicks and Nani delivered the fourth for Portugal before Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio stopped star midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski to put his side ahead 4-3.
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“I think we won fair and square against a very good team”. There is a team spirit that is our force and it’s still the case.
