Cristiano Ronaldo’s expression said it all as he slid on the Kharkiv turf on Sunday night; this is a Portugal team that means business at Euro 2012.
The Real Madrid man had just scored his, and Portugal’s, second of the night to eliminate the Netherlands and send Paulo Bento’s team to the quarter finals of the European Championship.
The assets that the Portuguese were on display for all to see as they cooly disposed of an Oranje team consisting of Robin Van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben.
Defensively they looked assured, in truth Rui Patricio, in the Portugal goal, wasn’t really troubled by the Dutch aside from the Rafael Van der Vaart goal and a curling effort late on from the same player.
In midfield, the trio of Veloso, Moutinho and Meireles made good use of the ball and regularly supplied the flair players of Nani and, captain, Ronaldo on either wing.
A harmonious team, it wouldn’t of flattered the Iberians had the score line been higher. Nani missed a gilt edged chance with the score at 1-1, in the end it didn’t matter as Portugal triumphed to progress to the last 8, they will play the Czech Republic in Warsaw on Thursday.
Since the game against the Dutch, Bento has praised his team’s ethic, perhaps as a show of unity after Ronaldo was lambasted in the press following the opening two group games.
Although the Czech’s will provide a stiff opposition, Bento will be confident that his side will have what it takes to progress to the semi finals, where they will likely take on Germany.
Former Manchester United man, Ronaldo, called progressing to the last 8 his countries ‘great aim’ in the aftermath of the Netherlands victory, it remains to be seen to whether they can win and keep their tournament hopes alive a little while longer.
Below is a video of Cristiano Ronaldo’s first goal against the Netherlands on Sunday.
@georgepowell8