Ronaldo? He won’t leave us sleepless in Sochi

LUIS & CO AWAKE TO RISK

URUGUAY coach Oscar Tabarez taunted Cristiano Ronaldo saying: ‘We’re not losing any sleep over facing you’.

The veteran boss (right) set up an explosive clash in Sochi tonight, insisting Portugal’s superstar striker wasn’t worth obsessing over.

Tabarez, 71, did admit that handling the Real Madrid legend was going to take great concentration, saying it was potentially a job for two men.

But he claimed Ronaldo wasn’t going to dominate his pre-match plans – and that the Portuguese were no one-man team.

Tabarez said: “He is one of the best strikers in the world.

“When he’s on top of his game, he’s the leader of that team. There’s not one single player who can contain him. Not Diego Godin. Nobody. We are going to have to work collectively. “We are going to take him seriously but I am not going to obsess over it. “We aren’t going to lose any sleep over him. We’ll be focused. But nine of those Portugal players on that pitch are European Champions. “That speaks of their collective quality.” Tabarez also hinted that he may have a plan to stop the game’s golden boy in his tracks.

He added: “We have a couple of ideas regarding our opponents. Some of my players know them better than I do. I’ve told them they need to be calm.

“We have got a lot of experience out there and there’s plenty of opportunity to spring a surprise.

“We have been working together towards this for 12 years and in the last three matches we have shown what we can achieve”.

Uruguay’s Barcelona striker Luis Suarez (above) brushed aside suggestions that this fixture in the last 16 was a direct battle between him and his rival at the Bernabeu.

He said: “When it comes to the rivalry with Ronaldo at club level, that’s different to this. This a World Cup.

“We are playing for our countries, and both of us are going to try our hardest.”