Portugal downs Poland, reaches Euro semis

It may not matter which individuals play best as long as the results continue to come for manager Fernando Santos’ side.

UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Portugal and Poland in the wake of Thursday’s Euro 2016 quarter-final at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille. The coach’s priority was discovering which kick his captain wanted to take.

“Cristiano [Ronaldo] went first and I went second, I was confident enough to do it”.

Three-times world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo, former Manchester United winger Nani, mercurial forward Ricardo Quaresma and midfielder Joao Moutinho have shown only the odd flash of their abilities.

Sanches said it was a “wonderful moment for the team and for me for scoring”.

Their style of play is not especially defensive, they do not commit more fouls than anyone else and their average of 19 goal attempts per game is the fourth highest at the tournament.

He attempted and won more take-ons than anyone else on the pitch, led Portugal in number of touches, was second on his team in passes attempted and completed, scored the equalizing goal and also converted a penalty in the shootout.

The other – Renato Sanches – is an 18-year-old from Lisbon playing at his first major tournament and one of FC Bayern München’s flagship summer signings.

“It hurts and it will hurt for a long time”, Lewandowski said as Ronaldo celebrated taking the latest step toward winning a first major global trophy with Portugal.

A good outing for the Real Madrid man, as he marshaled his defence well and also bullied the opposition players in the air. We’re on the right road.

Belgium, who have by far been the most prolific team with eight goals at the European Championships, have 84 attempts, albeit with a game in hand, while Wales, who have found the net seven times, have only 44 total attempts.

“The dream is getting closer and anything can happen now”, said Ronaldo.

Arkadiusz Milik, Kamil Glik scored for Poland until Jakub Blaszczykowski’s shot was saved by Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio. What counts is the team, and we did a fantastic job.

“It takes a lot of hard work to be this lucky”, he said.

Portugal gradually worked their way back into the match. “But you never know, under pressure people can change where they go (shoot) and, unfortunately for us, they took their penalties really well today”.

Lewandowski, top scorer in last season’s German Bundesliga and Poland’s trump card, had failed to score in his previous 643 minutes of action.