The first quarterfinal of the European Championship will see Europe’s two most lethal strikers in Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Robert lewandowski of Poland go head to head in a heated battle in Marseille.
Both Ronaldo and lewandowski have undoubtedly been the stars of their respective clubs — Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
The Portuguese superstar netted 51 goals, en route to guiding Real to their record 11th Champions league glory. While lewandowski had a prolific season as well, scoring 42 times for Bayern.
But, both started the tournament slowly. Ronaldo missed host of chances in the first two matches, including a penalty against Austria. But, he made up for it by scoring a double in Portugal’s incredible comeback against Hungary.
He also played a key role in Portugal’s winner against Croatia in the last-16 as Quaresma headed home the ball into an empty net after the Real forward’s shot was only parried away by Hungary’s goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.
Despite his late revival, not many have been convinced by Ronaldo’s performance so far. But, Poland have written off the suggestion that Ronaldo is not at his best.
Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny laughed off suggestions Ronaldo is not on top form, but said he has also been impressed by Bayern Munich’s 35 million euro ($38.5 million) recruit Renato Sanches, following his man-of-the-match against Croatia after the 18-year-old came off the bench in the round of 16.
“Portugal are a great team, they are not just Cristiano Ronaldo and some say he is not playing his best. I would still love to have him in my team,” said Szczesny.
“Besides Cristiano, I am impressed by Renato Sanches. Undoubtedly we have a big task ahead of us on Thursday.”
However, the tournament is yet to start for lewandowski. After being fouled an astonishing 16 times so far in the tournament, lewy is yet open his account for Poland in the four matches so far.
His main contribution for his country was coolly slotting home a penalty in the shoot-out win against Switzerland in the round of 16.
Poland will hope for him to end that barren run because scoring goals as been the biggest problem for them.
In the four matches so far, Poland have scored just the three goals.
However, their camp is not so worried about the Bayern striker’s blatant run in front of goal.
“We are not worried about Robert, not at all,” said Poland assistant boss Hubert Malowiejski. “Of course he felt some pain after that match, but there is not even the slightest bit of doubt he will be ready for Portugal.”
However, Poland have shown that they are more than just lewandowski. Milik and Blaszczykowski have come up with goals to rescue the team from difficult situations.
Also the team ethic has been another major advantage for the team. They conceded just one goal on their way to their best ever finish in the European Championship this time around.
As Poland bid to reach its first tournament semi-final since the 1982 World Cup, the team will look to carry on the good work they have been doing so far. In goal though, lukasz Fabianski will continue to serve his duty as first choice keeper Wojciech Szczesny suffered a thigh injury and has missed last three games.
Even though Portugal will start as the favourites, Fernando Santos coached side are yet to hit the top mark in the tournament so far, having not won a single match in the regular 90 minutes.
Even against Croatia, Portugal were deemed lucky after the opposition missed some really good opportunities to score on the night. They were particularly criticised for their negative approach after both teams failed to hit the target even once in the regulation 90 minutes.
However, Portugal’s Jose Fonte insists Fernando Santos’s men don’t care how they play as long as they make the last four. “If we have to play bad and win, I’ll do it. As a team you want to play good football and win games but sometimes you can’t.”
Portugal have fitness concerns over Raphael Guerreiro, Andre Gomes and Joao Moutinho, so wonder kid Sanches looks certain to start for the first time in the tournament.