Santos to exploit Scots’ ‘difficulties’

PORTUGAL head coach Fernando Santos is looking to take advantage of Scotland’s “difficulties” when he brings his side to Hampden this evening.

Santos has watched Scotland’s last few matches, and he has pinpointed weaknesses that he feels his players can exploit to heap further misery upon Alex McLeish and his men.

And while Santos is full of respect for his opponents, he is confident that, if Portugal play to their strengths, they will have too much for the Scots.

“I will not explain the difficulties Scotland have but I will speak to my players about that,” Santos said. “They are still a good team.

“Scotland are a strong opponent. They play different formations that we don’t play ourselves.

“They play well on the break. We will give our best but we have to worry about our own game.

“There are no friendly games for me. They either score you points or they don’t. This is a game we want to win.

“We have players of quality and we will play them to their strengths.”

Santos’s past experiences on Scottish soil haven’t all been positive. In 2001, his AEK Athens side scraped past Hibernian after extra- time, despite going down 3-2 at Easter Road. And, in 2006, his Benfica outfit were swept aside with the minimum of fuss by a rampant Celtic in the Champions League.

His memories of those nights primarily centre around the passion of the crowd, so it might not only be the result that pales in stark contrast to those occasions at a less than half- full Hampden this evening.

“I know the passion of the Scottish game when I was here against Hibernian and with Benfica in

2006 against Celtic,” he said.

“The passion in this country brings the best out in the players and the Scots are very passionate about the game.

“They have a strong support and that is very important in this game.”

Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, goalkeeper Rui Patricio and central defender Pepe have been granted leave for the match, but one man who is desperate to be involved is Porto’s Danilo after sitting out the World Cup through injury.

The midfielder was keen to quash any notion that Portugal will be taking it easy despite the absence of those key men, as well as the most conspicuous absentee of the lot, Cristiano Ronaldo.

“It wasn’t an easy moment for me to miss the World Cup but I prepared myself for missing out on it,” Danilo said. “I focused my recovery on being here and it is a personal achievement to be here.

“I had a lot of time to reflect on what I did well, and not so well, when I was out injured. But I am here now and I am here to give my very best. I will give no more or less than that. “Essentially, we are confident we can demonstrate we are a very competent team.

“It won’t be an easy game but we believe in our coach we can get the right result.”