Portugal 7-0 Estonia

The Seleção ended their EURO 2016 preparations in style, thrashing Estonia 7-0 on a balmy evening in Lisbon tonight.

Ricardo Quaresma was the star of the show, scoring twice and directly contributing to three other goals, and on the evidence of Portugal’s three recent friendly games the mercurial Besiktas winger has surely earned a starting spot in France this summer.

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo only played the first half, but it was enough to notch two goals, with Danilo and Éder also finding the net, in addition to an own goal from the hapless Estonians.

In keeping with historical precedent, Portugal was incapable of defeating England on English soil, losing 1-0 to the Three Lions.

With eight changes to the eleven that easily dispatched a largely experimental Norwegian side on Sunday, Portugal’s trip to Wembley was more about fine-tuning tactics and nailing down a starting lineup for its first European Championship game than beating a heavyweight opponent and legitimate tournament contender. 

And, despite a praiseworthy defensive performance, which was all the more impressive given that the Portuguese played a man down for just under an hour, Fernando Santos will go into his last preparation match against Estonia knowing that there is still much to work on if Portugal is to make a deep run in France.

England 1-0 Portugal

Portugal played their penultimate Euro 2016 preparation match tonight, going down to a late England goal at Wembley. The Seleção played for almost an hour one man down after a rush of blood to the head saw Bruno Alves sent off in the 35th minute.

Holding midfielder Danilo put in a fine display for Portugal and a solid defensive showing restricted a highly fancied England team to very few chances, but there was precious little from Fernando Santos’s side in an attacking sense, even before the Alves red card.

With the game still goalless substitute Ricardo Quaresma almost scored a wonder goal for the second match running, but Portugal can have little complaint about the justice of the final score.

Portugal 3-0 Norway

In the first of their three pre-tournament friendlies, Portugal struggled but ultimately defeated Norway at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto.

Sensational goals from Ricardo Quaresma and Raphael Guerreiro led the way with Éder completing the victory with only his 2nd ever international goal.