Fernando Santos explained why Portugal lost its semi-final spot ot Spain
Fernando Santos, Portugal coach, speaking to RTP about the game against Spain:
"The team was well organised in the first half. We were doing well despite Spain having more possession. But we needed more ball circulation to take Spain apart and some aggressive pressure to recover faster. In the first half we created some opportunities, whilst Spain didn't create any."
"We did very well in the second half. In the first 15 minutes after half-time, the team pressed more and more and we created two or three goal situations. From then on, we didn't have the ball; the team dropped back, stopped pressing and struggled. I brought in Vitinha and João Mário to have more possession of the ball and to play. We couldn't, and we started to retreat. Even so, we had two great chances, but we didn't score."
"We have to maintain the same pattern of play regardless of the opponent. We managed to do this for a while. We circulated, pressed and created opportunities. In the second half, we defended higher up the field. Then we lost the ability to keep possession. We won the ball and we couldn't start our game. Spain started pushing and without having a real chance, scored."
