Cristiano Ronaldo told Thibaut Courtois his Belgium team were lucky to make the last eight of the European Championships after they saw off Portugal.
Thorgan Hazard’s first-half sublime strike was enough to settle the clash in Seville and knock out the defending champions.
Ronaldo and co threw everything in the second half, having 23 attempts to Belgium’s six across the contest. Raphael Guerreiro even hit the post in the latter stages as Portugal sought an equaliser.
After the game, Ronaldo approached Belgium’s goalkeeper and said: “Lucky eh? The ball didn’t want to get in today.”
The Juventus superstar was visibly annoyed after the game, throwing his captain’s armband down in anger. The closest he came to adding to his tally for the tournament was a first-half free kick, which Courtois saved.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos also bemoaned the pattern of the match having seen his team enjoy large periods of domination.
He said: “There are players crying in the changing room. They gave everything. Belgium had 6 shots, we had 29. Sincerely I don’t have many words. “We believed if we won this one, we would have gone on to win the next one. They scored, we didn’t. It’s football.”
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Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen did admit that his side were perhaps lucky to win the clash. He said: “In the first half we were playing high and putting pressure on Portugal, but looking at that second half, we are lucky to win.
“Portugal made it really hard for us. We had to really stay focused. It has cost us a lot of energy, but we have some time to recover and now we are looking forward to the game against Italy.”
Belgium will now play Italy in the last eight in what will be a mouthwatering clash in Munich.
