On paper, Portugal should win easily (even if Iceland do have evergreen striker Eidur Gudjohnsen), but one man’s trying to make sure the result everyone’s expecting doesn’t eventuate.
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma both scored twice as Portugal wrapped up their preparations for Euro 2016 with a 7-0 thrashing of Estonia in Lisbon on Wednesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo may want to re-think any ideas he has about scoring against Iceland in Portugal’s Euro 2016 opener, after The Mountain from Game of Thrones threatened to crush his skull. We look at who is the favorite to score at anytime, and at the player most likely to score first. However, it is good to be with your feet firmly on the ground.
“I would have liked to have played more tonight, but I need to hold back and give others playing time”.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos substituted Ronaldo in favour of Vieirinha at half-time, and his team went on to score three second-half goals with Estonia conceding an own goal to reach the final scoreline.
But Santos admitted Ronaldo, who netted Real’s winning penalty in the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid having laboured through 120 minutes in Milan, is unlikely to be fully fit in France although he shrugged off any genuine concerns about his skipper.
He finished the campaign with 51 goals in 48 games in all competitions for Real. “I have a message for Cristiano Ronaldo”, he warns.
Portugal lost on penalties to Spain in the semi-finals at Euro 2012 and then crashed out in the group stage of the World Cup in Brazil.
“The group stage is the most important thing and then we will see”, Ronaldo said.
“That was a hard moment, because losing a match, especially here in Portugal, against Greece – we knew we had a unique opportunity to become European champions”, Ronaldo told Uefa.com. Portugal also possess an excellent goalkeeper in the form of Sporting captain, Rui Patricio and the core of this Selecção squad have posted two third-place finishes and a runners-up finish through the course of the last four European Championships.
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It’s safe to say he’s got this whole round ball game pretty well figured out. We played a good game, the last game. He is one of few players on the squad who has been decisive at the worldwide level before and netted a famous equaliser in the qualifying draw with rivals Romania.
