Ronaldo was widely expected to be Portugal’s key man at Euro 2016 after ending the 2015-16 campaign with 51 goals in 48 games across all competitions for Real Madrid.
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That did not prevent relieved Portuguese celebrations.
The dream is getting closer’. We let them take over the game for a bit and weren’t able to control [Arkadiusz] Milik, so I spoke to Renato Sanches to change things and asked Nani to drop a bit deeper.
“As I’ve always said and I don’t hide, it is a dream to me winning a title with the national team”, he said. We’re on the right road.
But Nawalka heaped praise on Lewandowski post-match.
Sanches, his new teammate at Bayern Munich, came to Portugal’s rescue.
None of that seemed to get to the 31-year-old Madrid star though – as he insisted to reporters after the game that Portugal’s results are more important than his own personal display.
And Fonte, who plays for Premier League side Southampton, views the deal as a missed opportunity for the Old Trafford club.
And after Artur Jedrzejczyk nearly steered Pepe’s pass beyond his own goalkeeper, Ronaldo wasted another chance late on when he failed to connect with Joao Moutinho’s lofted ball into the area when clean through on goal. He also volunteered to take a penalty in the shootout and scored with a confident strike into the top-left corner.
Patricio dived left to save Jakub Blaszczykowski’s tame fourth shot for the Poles, who had reached the quarter-finals for the first time.
Lukasz Fabianski got his fingertips to Quaresma’s decisive effort but could not prevent it finding the roof of the net.
“The team works as one”. They have one win apiece so far: 1-0 to Poland at the 1986 World Cup and 4-0 to Portugal at the 2002 World Cup. “People criticise us but we don’t care because in the end we are in the semis”.
Portugal’s midfield has been aheadache for Santos throughout the tournament, failing to provide Nani and Ronaldo with the ammunition they need to run at defences, and Thursday’s lineup was the nearest the coach has come to asolution.
Since Benfica had paid £600 and 25 footballs for Sanches, this represented a reasonable return on their investment. We must congratulate the players. There will be soon be time for detailed analysis but at the moment this defeat hurts.
And despite a night of personal frustration for Cristiano Ronaldo, he and his team-mates have now set up a clash with Wales or Belgium in Lyon on Wednesday.
The final two quarter finals are between Germany and Italy on Saturday followed by France against underdogs Iceland on Sunday.
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Portugal have taken advantage of Euro 2016’s expanded format by reaching the final four – even though they have not won a match in normal time.
