Euro 2016 : 5 things we learnt from Croatia vs Portugal

Portugal and Croatia faced off in what promised to be an exciting game, instead the game was pretty dull as none of the sides managed to have a shot on goal in 90 minutes and Portugal snatched a win through a Ricardo Quaresma goal late in Extra time. Here are  5 things we learnt from Croatia vs Portugal.

1 Croatia missed their chances

Croatia played brilliantly in the group stages , and caused a major upset defeating Spain and were responsible for setting up possibly the tie of the round of 16, Spain vs Italy. They were full of confidence and faced a Portugal team which failed to win any of their three games. Croatia should have done much better , instead were wasteful and never looked like threatening.

2 Portugal are far from convincing

After 4 games, Portugal have not been able to muster a win in 90 minutes. They clearly lacked any motivation out on the pitch and gave the ball away cheaply , lucky for them Croatia didn’t do much either. Portugal were lucky to have come through with the win, the game could have easily gone into penalties.

3 Ronaldo is Portugal’s main man

The above phrase has been said about a million times before ,and there is no harm in repeating it. Cristiano Ronaldo looked like a shining light on another dull day for the Portuguese. He made several brilliant runs giving a tough time to the Croatian defenders , and it was his shot which was headed in by Ricardo Quaresma for Portugal’s goal.

4 Same old story for Croatia

The way this tournament ended for Croatia reminded of several past tournaments. A talented squad which always comes short . It’s a long flight home to Zagreb now for the Croats and they now need to look back upon what went wrong in a tournament which looked so promising ,

5 Portugal will now face Poland after Croatia vs Portugal

Portugal will now face Poland for a place in the Semifinals after the Poles beat Switzerland 5-4 in a penalty shootout. Poland have defended really well all tournament and this one will be an entertaining fixture.

Also Read  4 things we learnt from Wales vs Northern Ireland

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