Portugal pass Poland with Patrício penalty save

Ricardo Quaresma made the difference once more for Portugal against Poland in Marseille. This time scoring the winning penalty to send Portugal into the semi-finals.

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Poland after just 2 minutes. Renato Sanches equalised on his first start for Portugal after half an hour. The game went into extra time once again and then onto penalties.

Jakub Błaszczykowski was the unlucky Poland player to have his penalty saved, after Cristiano Ronaldo, Renato Sanches, João Moutinho and Nani all dispatched theirs.

 

Fernando Santos made two changes from the side that left it late against Croatia. Eliseu replaced Raphael Guerreiro at left back and the impressive Renato Sanches made his first Portugal start ahead of André Gomes.

Early breakthrough for Poland

Portugal made the worst possible start to the game when Kamil Grosicki darted down the left wing within 2 minutes. His cross found none other than Robert Lewandowski to finish from close range. There was nothing Rui Patrício could do on his 50th appearance for the selecção.

It was Adam Nawalka's side who started the better ahead of Fernando Santos' team in Marseille. Portugal struggled to get keep hold of the ball.

It was only at the half hour mark when Portugal woke up. Cristiano Ronaldo provided the first real attempt on Łukasz Fabiański's goal after Nani did well to recover the ball.

Portugal then had a big shout for a penalty when Michał Pazdan looked to have pushed Cristiano Ronaldo in the area. German referee Felix Brych waved away the appeal.

Renato Sanches equalises

Portugal's fortune changed in the 33rd minute when Nani and Renato Sanches shared a 1-2, then the impressive youngster shot from the edge of the area. The shot took a slight deflection off Grzegorz Krychowiak and past Fabianski to fire Portugal level.

In the second half Portugal were far more dominant in possession with Poland unable to move the ball around as they had early on in the game. However, despite the possession, it was difficult for Portugal to break the Poles down.

Both sides became gradually more cagey as the game went on, the most notable moment for Portugal was when Cristiano Ronaldo missed his cue after an impressive chipped through ball from substitute João Moutinho.

Late on Fernando Santos brought on Ricardo Quaresma for João Mário to try and increase Portugal's attacking threat.

The only action of significance before the full time whistle came in stoppage time William Carvalho picked up a yellow card, to put him out of the semi-finals.

There was a similar pattern to the game into extra time. For Portugal, it was very much memories of the Croatia game. Danilo Pereira came on to replace William Carvalho midway through the first half for Fernando Santos final change.

Poland improved in the second half and looked more likely to score. However the most memorable moment was when an ill-advised fan ran on the pitch. He was stopped as he ran into an already congested midfield.

Penalties beckon

So it was to be penalties. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up first, not content to be the fifth man this time. Ronaldo scored, that will help him ease the burden of a few missed chances in the game. Lewandowski stepped up for Poland's first but Rui Patrício was unable to save.

Next the young Renato Sanches. He showed no signs of nerves though and thundered his penalty into the top left hand corner. It capped off another outstanding display for the man who will be at Bayern Munich next season. Arkadiusz Milik equalised for Poland. Moutinho scored next but Kamil Glik scored his too. Nani stepped up next, he stuttered in the run up but calmly slotted home.

Jakub Błaszczykowski faced Patrício next. Up to that point the Sporting goalkeeper had been seen all of Poland's penalties easily despatched. This time however, Patrício dived to his left to palm the midfielder's penalty away.

So, it was down to Ricardo Quaresma to win the game for Portugal. He certainly made the difference against Croatia. He did again against Poland, beating Fabiański and sending Portugal into the semi-final.

Once again, Portugal weren't at their best and again they got lucky. Fernando Santos will certainly be happy if they can be lucky just 2 more times before the end.

Cristiano Ronaldo had another frustrating evening but the likes of Renato Sanches and Pepe stood out for Portugal. There’s still something not clicking in the final third but their control of games has been impressive so far.

Next up for Portugal will be either Belgium or Wales with the media no doubt eager to see a Ronaldo vs. Gareth Bale stand-off.

by Richard Cole

Poland XI: Łukasz Fabiański; Łukasz Piszczek, Michał Pazdan, Kamil Glik, Artur Jędrzejczyk; Jakub Błaszczykowski, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Krzysztof Mączyński (Tomasz Jodłowiec, 97'), Kamil Grosicki (Bartosz Kapustka, 82'); Arkadiusz Milik, Robert Lewandowski

Portugal XI: Rui Patrício; Cédric Soares, José Fonte, Pepe, Eliseu; João Mário (Ricardo Quaresma, 80'), William Carvalho (Danilo Pereira, 95'), Adrien Silva (João Moutinho, 73'), Renato Sanches; Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo