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Santos defends 'team player' Ronaldo

2016-06-25 07:48:00 from:SNTV

Portugal coach Fernando Santos looked ahead on Friday (24th June) to his side's Euro 2016 Round of 16 tie against Croatia.

"As for Cristiano Ronaldo, of course they will try to cancel him out. Sometimes the Portuguese downplay him, say he's not scoring, he's playing poorly, et cetera. But I'm sure Croatia will pay a lot of attention to Cristiano Ronaldo. And I'm also sure that my counterpart has prepared his team to play Portugal with all the positive things that Portugal has, be they collective or individual. And that's what I'll try to do. I've already played against Croatia. I know most of their players well. So we'll try and find the answers to cancel out the very strong points Croatia has and to make best use of their flaws."

"Portugal's always a team and Ronaldo is a team player. Manchester United also won a lot of matches with a player called Ronaldo. Real Madrid also wins with a player called Ronaldo. Great players always leave their mark and without a team there are no great players. Individual talent may win a match here or there, but great tournaments are won by great teams."

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