Bento hails Portugal victory

Paulo Bento: Will be ready for whomever Portugal face in Donetsk

Portugal head coach Paulo Bento paid tribute to his side's performance as they reached the European Championship semi-finals thanks to a 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the star of the show and scored the winning goal 11 minutes from time, heading home Joao Moutinho's cross.

But Bento believes it was his side's collective ability to control the game in both defence and attack that made the real difference.

"We did not start the match well in attack for the first 25 minutes," said Bento.

"Our aim will be to win against France or Spain. There cannot be any other goal for us"
Paulo Bento Quotes of the week

"Then we showed a great response in the second half, a great capacity to respond to the Czechs and that is why we really deserved this victory.

"We had prepared ourselves in the best possible way for their strategy.

"We knew they would try to defend very deeply and would press against us on the counter-attack, because they have very quick players who are good technically.

"As the game went on, we controlled the match, we played better and had more chances to create our own game."

Characteristics

Despite Real Madrid star Ronaldo grabbing the headlines once again, Bento was reluctant to single out any individual performances.

"All the players have tasks on the pitch, and Ronaldo played to our tactical system," said the Portugal coach.

"He has the capacity to play in the penalty area, but also a little deeper."

And Bento maintains his side will be ready for whomever they face in Donetsk next Wednesday night.

"In the semi-finals of a tournament like this, there are always great teams with different characteristics who are well organised with players of great quality," he said.

"We do not prefer (to play) anybody.

"It has been a lot of work by us to reach the semi-finals and we will try to recover to reach the pitch in the best condition.

"We will show the response which is necessary.

"Our aim will be to win against France or Spain. There cannot be any other goal for us."