Key facts
• Portugal lost only one game in Group A, the only section with eight teams, but had to endure a nervous finale before claiming their place in the finals as runners-up to Poland.
• After clinging on for a 1-1 draw with Finland with ten men in their opening game, Portugal won 3-0 against Azerbaijan but then lost 2-1 in Poland.
• Progress was to be sporadic thereafter, despite winger Cristiano Ronaldo contributing eight goals. Portugal dropped some unexpected points, drawing 1-1 home and away against Serbia, 2-2 at home against Poland and – worst of all – 1-1 away against a surprisingly troublesome Armenia.
• Incidents following the 1-1 home draw with Serbia led coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to be banned from the touchline for three games, but Portugal won all three matches with his assistant Flávio Teixeira on the bench, meaning they needed only to avoid defeat in their final game against Finland in Porto to progress.
• With Finland knowing a win would likely see them qualify in Portugal’s place, it was a tense affair, but a 0-0 draw sufficed for the home side, with Scolari saying: “I know we have to improve for the finals.”
• Portugal have appeared in the last four UEFA European Championship final tournaments having first qualified in 1984.
• Up until the end of UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying, Portugal had played 108 matches in their 13 participations in the UEFA European Championship, winning 58, drawing 26 and losing 24 with 183 goals scored and 98 conceded.
• Portugal’s record victories to date in the competition have come via two 8-0 defeats of Liechtenstein on 18 December 1994 and 9 June 1999. The latter match saw both João Pinto and Sá Pinto scoring hat-tricks.
• Their record defeats in the competition have come courtesy of 5-0 away defeats at the hands of Czechoslovakia (30 April 1975) and the Soviet Union (27 April 1983).from: http://en.euro2008.uefa.com
Tags: Portugal
