Bento’s men are ‘confident and ready for fight’

CrISTIano ronaldo headed Portugal into the semi-finals of the european Championships at the expense of the Czech republic in Warsaw.

The real madrid forward had twice hit the woodwork and seen his side have a goal chalked out for offside before he arrived on cue in the six-yard box to nod in Joao moutinho’s cross on 79 minutes.

The Czechs – with captain Tomas rosicky, the arsenal midfielder, only on the bench because of an achilles injury – had started brightly, but lacked a decisive move in the final third.

It had been a decent opening from michal Bilek’s side as Petr

into

a

Cech, Gebre Selassie, Sivok, Kadlec, Limbersky, Hubschman (Pekhart 86), Plasil, Jiracek, Darida (Rezek 61), Pilar, Baros. Subs not used: Lastuvka, Suchy, Hubnik, Necid, Rosicky, Petrzela, Rajtoral, Kolar, Lafata, Drobny.

Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fabio Coentrao, Meireles (Rolando 88), Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Nani (Custodio 84), Postiga (Almeida 39), Ronaldo. Subs Not Used: Eduardo, Quaresma, Nelson Oliveira, Ricardo Costa, Ruben Micael, Varela, Miguel Lopes, Hugo Viana, Beto. CrISTIano ronaldo claims Portugal are growing in confidence after his second-half header sent his side into the semi-finals of euro 2012 with a 1-0 win over the Czech republic.

ronaldo said: “We created many chances and hit the post, but it is brilliant for us to have passed into the semi-finals. We know it is going to be difficult, but we are ready, we are confident. We are very mature, so we are ready for the fight.”

Portugal coach Paulo Bento felt his side deserved their place in the semi-finals.

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

“as the game went on we controlled the match, we played better and had more chances to create our own game.”

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

“We do not prefer [to play] anybody,” he said. “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.”