Coaches cagey ahead of clash

SEVILLE • Portugal felt the full range of emotions during the Euro 2020 group stage and with Cristiano Ronaldo in the groove again, they can really begin to believe.

After scoring three late goals to beat Hungary, the defending champions were shaken by a 4-2 loss to Germany, only for a 2-2 draw against France to restore morale and ensure they snuck out of Group F in third place.

The result is a last-16 clash with Belgium in Seville today, when one of the tournament favourites will bow out in what is surely the blockbuster tie of the round.

One of the frontrunners for the Golden Boot will fall too, with Ronaldo and Belgium's Romelu Lukaku both in contention. Before yesterday's matches, Ronaldo led the scoring chart on five goals with Lukaku on three.

Portugal coach Fernando Santos believes that he has spotted the weaknesses that Belgium have, specifically during the 2-1 comeback win over Denmark in which the world's top-ranked team were held to only six attempts.

"Belgium have a lot of strengths, especially the knowledge they have of each other for having been together for such a long time," he said. "Everything flows naturally. They already know where everyone is without having to think about it.

"I'm not going to talk about their weaknesses now because I don't want them to know what I'm thinking. But there are things we can explore. The game against Denmark showed some of their weaknesses."

Santos had responded well to his team's weaknesses too, reacting to criticism by reverting to his traditional 4-3-3 system of the past two years and making some bold changes to his starting line-up.

William Carvalho and Bruno Fernandes, who both struggled in the first two games, made way for the young Renato Sanches and the veteran Joao Moutinho, who both rose to the challenge against France's midfielder pairing of Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante.

Sanches brought some much-needed dynamism to the team while the 34-year-old Moutinho's surgical passing gave Portugal the guile and direction they had lacked against Germany.

"We can fight against the best teams," added Santos. "Either we believe or we don't because we can beat anyone and I'll keep saying it - no team thinks they will have an easy time against Portugal."

The principal threat against Belgium will be Ronaldo who, at 36, is sparkling again on the biggest stage, delivering goals and breaking records from the outset.

He had never previously scored in six meetings with France but his two penalties mean he has already achieved his best Euro tally, after scoring twice in 2004, once in 2008 and three times in both 2012 and 2016.

Belgium have failed to score in only two of their last 58 games under Roberto Martinez, averaging exactly three goals per game in this stretch of fixtures (174).

Portugal are unbeaten in their last five matches against Belgium across all competitions (W3 D2) since a 3-0 defeat in World Cup qualifying in September 1989.

In doing so, he has pulled five clear of Michel Platini's previous record of nine goals in total at European Championships and become the first to score in five different editions of the competition.

Against France, he also equalled the world record for international goals held since 2006 by Ali Daei, who has 109 for Iran.

But Belgium coach Roberto Martinez insisted that his team will have no specific plan to counter the threat of Ronaldo.

"We cannot change who we are. We're a dynamic team built to attack and to get at the opposing goal as soon as possible," he said. "Obviously we are also going to have to defend really well but when you create a plan against a specific player, you can get hurt by others.

"Of course, we all know Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best footballers in the world. But you also have to defend against the other 10 players. The way Portugal play, they've got a lot of flair and a lot of pace behind. We'll need to be compact, solid and defend as a team."

Belgium have an injury-free squad, he added, and they expect to be able to deal with the heat in the south of Spain. Portugal also have no major injury concerns, with Nelson Semedo and Danilo Pereira just minor doubts after suffering knocks against France.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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