Semi-finalist profile: Portugal

When
Portugal arrived at their Poland training camp three weeks ago,
expectation was relatively low. Without a win in three games in 2012,
scoring just once in the process, they faced a tough group stage against
fancied Germany, not to mention the Netherlands and Denmark. Now in a
third UEFA European Championship semi-final in four attempts, there is
growing belief that Paulo Bento's side can go one better than their 2004
showpiece defeat on home soil and snare a first major international
trophy.

Tactics: Bento has taken stability to a
new level, selecting the same starting XI in all four matches –
incidentally, an identical XI to the one that played both legs of the
qualifying play-off with Bosnia and Herzegovina last November. Though
there will be no seventh successive game unchanged due to Hélder
Postiga's thigh injury, the 4-3-3 will remain, with a central striker –
most probably Hugo Almeida – flanked by Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo. "We
won't change for anyone," said Bento last week.

Key man:
Ronaldo has met his reputation as the tournament's highest profile
player with gusto, making the difference with both goals against the
Dutch and the decisive strike in the quarter-final against the Czech
Republic. "He's a very complete player," said team-mate João Moutinho.
"I don't think I could highlight any weak points. He's great with his
head, his feet, and he's very fast." Ronaldo's partnership on the left
with Real Madrid CF colleague Fábio Coentrão has been hugely important
for Portugal.

EURO semi-final record:

23/06/1984 France 3-2 Portugal (aet) (Marseille)

28/06/2000 France 2-1 Portugal (gg) (Brussels)

30/06/2004 Portugal 2-1 Netherlands (Lisbon)

Basecamp:
The squad appear to revel in each other's company, and their unity,
happiness and dedication have shown on the training pitch at their
Opalenica base. Defender Ricardo Costa, yet to play at UEFA EURO 2012,
said this week that everybody has their own role. "Ronaldo-dependent?"
he said. "We're Ricardo-dependent, Eduardo-dependent and [Raul]
Meireles-dependent too. Cristiano's our standard-bearer, he's the best
player in the world and he helps us immensely, but we don't depend just
on him."

Record in Donetsk: This is a first trip
to Donetsk for Portugal, but their coach has cause for confidence having
led Sporting Clube de Portugal to a 1-0 victory at FC Shakhtar Donetsk
in his only previous outing in the mining stronghold. Furthermore, his
side for that 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage fixture featured
current internationals Rui Patrício, Miguel Veloso and (as a late
substitute) Postiga.

Moutinho, Rolando and Silvestre Varela have also played at the Donbass Arena before, winning 2-0 with FC Porto
in the UEFA Champions League group stage earlier this season. The six
UEFA matches played by Portuguese teams in Donetsk have ended W3 D2 L1,
with Hugo Viana appearing in that lone defeat, a 2-0 reverse with SC Braga in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League group stage.

Room for improvement:
One area that could be addressed is Portugal's slow start to games. In
each of their four UEFA EURO 2012 matches, Bento's men have begun on the
back foot. They have been good at responding to adversity, at least,
recovering from a goal down against the Netherlands, yet reacted too
late to rescue a point in their opening fixture with Germany. A side of
Portugal's attacking nature have the ability to be more proactive than
reactive, and Bento will be keen to avoid ceding early ground to Spain.

The view from home:
Optimism continues to build the further the team go. Portuguese
newspaper Record insists that "Portugal aren't scared of Spain", while O
Jogo focuses on the growing influence of Bento's captain and talisman,
Ronaldo: "Better than [Lionel] Messi and all the rest."

Mission statement:
"We have a lot of respect for them, but we have respect for ourselves
too; we have a great squad and great players, and we're confident in our
way of playing." Right-back João Pereira is not cowed by the prospect
of facing the defending champions.