Cristiano Ronaldo said Portugal had a “good chance” of winning UEFA EURO 2008 after his Carlsberg Man of Match award-winning performance put them on the verge of a place in the quarter-finals – a step subsequently confirmed by Turkey’s victory over Switzerland.

‘Very happy’
Ronaldo played a part in all three Portugal goals, combining with Nuno Gomes and Deco for the first on eight minutes, striking the second with 63 minutes played, then teeing up substitute Ricardo Quaresma for the third in added time. “It’s a very good feeling,” he said. “We have almost reached our aim, which was to get out of this phase and reach the next. I was very happy to help my team-mates win. We played really well even though the Czech Republic played very well in the first half and we found it difficult to penetrate their defence. We played as a team and know how to sacrifice everything for the team. We have a good chance [to win the competition] but we must respect our opponents who want to win as much as we do.”
‘Football festival’
György Mezey was part of the UEFA Technical Team that selected Ronaldo as Man of the Match. He said: “You do not need to explain why he is Man of the Match. He scores goals and sets them up and did very well throughout the game. It was a very good game, a football festival played between two very well-prepared teams with fantastic individual performances. In one-v-one situations they were not able to mark Ronaldo, he was always dangerous.” Czech Republic coach Karel Brückner added: “Ronaldo is one of the best players. He is a very dangerous weapon but the Portugal team is not only about Ronaldo. They have other very good players, but Ronaldo might be the best at EURO 2008™.”

Red cross ambassador
Beaming as he collected his Carlsberg Man of the Match award shortly after the game, Ronaldo dedicated his goal to the Score for the Red Cross campaign, of which he is the ambassador. “My goal goes to the Red Cross which makes me very proud,” he said. The Score for the Red Cross campaign is the official UEFA EURO 2008™ humanitarian project launched by UEFA together with the International Committee of the Red Cross. For the first time, UEFA is directly linking its support to what happens on the pitch – every goal scored during the finals, except in penalty shoot-outs, will be worth a €4,000 donation. Fans can also make donations so click here to Score for the Red Cross.

Karel Bruckner praised Cristiano Ronaldo after his Czech Republic side lost 3-1 to Portugal.

The Czechs’ second game of Euro 2008 was a close-fought encounter before Ronaldo turned the match in Portugal’s favour in the second half.

Ronaldo restored his team’s lead with a clinical finish on 63 minutes and set up substitute Ricardo Quaresma for the third in injury-time.

Czech coach Bruckner outlined the importance of Ronaldo’s contribution to Portugal’s Euro 2008 challenge.

Dangerous weapon

“I would like to congratulate our opponents, they played very well,” said Bruckner.

“Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world, he is a very dangerous weapon, but the Portugal team is not just about Ronaldo.

“They have an excellent passing game, but, yes, Portugal might be the best team of Euro 2008.”

Bruckner was pleased with his team’s performance, following the opening game win over co-hosts Switzerland, but also acknowledged Portugal’s quality on the counter-attack.

Amazing

He added: “I thought we played very well for long periods, but were beaten by a very talented side on top of their game. I made two changes to the team who beat Switzerland and took a pragmatic decision.

“Some players certainly did better in this match than in the Swiss game, but if we’re honest, we came up against a stronger side.

“I thought in the first half we proved we are a great team in both defence and attack.

“However, I think a few of our players began to tire in the second half and Portugal started to play almost perfect counter-attacking football. The way they build from defence to attack is amazing.”

Luca Toni, Italy
After top-scoring in the Bundesliga with FC Bayern München and hitting ten more to end up as the 2007/08 UEFA Cup’s most prolific striker along with Pavel Pogrebnyak of FC Zenit St. Petersburg, Azzurri fans will be expecting Toni’s goal spree to continue here. Toni must produce if the FIFA World Cup holders are to get out of a demanding Group C.

Jan Koller, Czech Republic
Baroš will hope to hold on to his award but his compatriot Koller could succeed him having been scoring at international level for over nine years. The big man’s record of 54 goals in 87 appearances for his country is phenomenal, as is his consistency: he scored six goals in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying – just as he did in 2000 and 2004.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
Ronaldo may play on the wing for Portugal but he is still their greatest goal threat and comes into the tournament in the form of his life. The 23-year-old struck 42 goals this season, top-scoring in the UEFA Champions League and English Premier League for Manchester United FC and after finding the target in Moscow against Chelsea FC is desperate to make his mark on another big occasion.

Miroslav Klose, Germany
Germany have been tipped to go far at UEFA EURO 2008™ and that should give the FC Bayern München striker ample chance to add to the 39 goals he has already scored for his country at a rate of over one every two games. Klose is the only player in history to score five or more goals in successive FIFA World Cups, but is yet to score at a UEFA European Championship.

Thierry Henry, France
Fresh from playing his 100th game for Les Bleus, Henry will be keen to put a difficult first season with FC Barcelona behind him. His partnership with rising star Karim Benzema has set French pulses racing and though the youngster has been hogging the headlines of late, France’s record scorer shows no sign of giving up centre stage just yet.

Euzebiusz Smolarek, Poland
Smolarek’s nine goals in qualifying is more than any other player at these finals with David Healy’s Northern Ireland having missed out and Eduardo da Silva suffering injury. That has taken his overall international tally from four to 13, and it seems likely that the Real Racing Club Santander striker, who drew a blank at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, will be able to emulate his father Włodzimierz in scoring at a major finals.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, Netherlands
Having patched up his differences with coach Marco van Basten, Van Nistelrooy will be eager to make the most of this opportunity. Injury kept him out of the side for much of Real Madrid CF’s run-in but he is coming into form. He scored in four consecutive games for club and country up to his strike in the 1-1 draw with Denmark on 29 May, which took him up to 31 Netherlands goals - nine short of all-time leader Patrick Kluivert.

Fernando Torres, Spain
After Torres’s formidable first season with Liverpool FC, Spain fans have every reason to look ahead to UEFA EURO 2008™ with confidence. The question is, can their midfield provide the ammunition in such devastating style as Steven Gerrard does at Anfield?

Nihat Kahveci, Turkey
After more than one season of injury frustration, the Turkey forward struck 23 Villarreal CF goals in 2007/08 and also contributed vital strikes in qualifying for his nation. Good enough for Fatih Terim to leave out folk hero Hakan Şükür.

Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden)
“He’s probably one of the best forwards today,” says Sweden coach Lars Lagerbäck of Ibrahimović. The return of Henrik Larsson will ease some of the goalscoring burden on the 26-year-old FC Internazionale Milano striker who scored 17 times for FC Internazionale Milano last season.