Sanches: Critics don’t bother us

RENATO Sanches insists any criticism of Portugal has no effect on the players as they reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016 after a penalty shoot-out victory over Poland.

Robert Lewandowski had given Poland an early lead with the second-fastest goal in the history of the competition but 18-year-old Sanches levelled with his first senior international strike.

The 1-1 draw was a largely drab affair but both sides produced i n t he penalty shoot-out, only for Jakob Blaszczykowski to see his effort saved with Por tugal advancing courtesy of a 5-3 success as substitute Ricardo Quaresma struck the winning penalty.

Sanches tucked away Po r t u g a l ’s second spot-kick after captain Cristiano Ronaldo made up for a frustrating evening by scoring the opener.

And he said the players remain confident despite the fact they have yet to win a game inside 90 minutes on their way to the last four, where they will meet the winner of tonight’s clash b e t w e e n Wa l e s and Belgium.

“It is a wonderful moment for the team, for me for scoring,” he said.

“We have been working very hard and we have been doing our best.

“People criticise us but we don’t care, because we are in the semis.

“We conceded very early but we believed until the end, we tried our best.

“The move for the goal turned out that way but the team has been playing well, we are very confident so we will keep on trying to play our best.”

Having signed for Bayern Munich before the tournament, Sanches has impressed i n substitute appearances but was unleashed from the start and did not disappoint.

Renato Sanches celebrates tucking away his penalty.