Portugal’s understudy striker Nelson Oliveira believes that his country did everything but win in their semi-final clash against Spain on Wednesday night, but commended their efforts for creating all sorts of problems for the defending champions.
The Seleccao fell agonizingly short of making it into their second ever Euros final, suffering a shoot-out trauma to bow out from the competition. However, unlike France-Spain’s opponents in the previous game- the Portuguese went about the game with an attacking
approach, and were arguably the better side during the first 90 minutes of the game.
Despite an early miss from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926 on Sunday in the title decider.
After going on a run of three successive wins in the tournament, Oliveira admitted that he was wretched following Portugal’s semi-final loss, but insisted that they matched their opponents during the entire game.
While talking to reporters, he said: “We played well and we were equal to Spain. Sadly, we didn't get the win that we wanted. We obviously feel a great sadness. We wanted to go through to the final and we didn't make it.”
The juvenile striker featured in his team’s 1-0 defeat to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 in the 81st, but failed to make any notable impact.
However, the 20-year old was all praise for his team on their valiant effort in the semis. He felt that they were on the receiving end of bad fortune, but insisted that instead of being disappointed, they should be proud of whatever they had achieved in
the competition.
He added, “We're sad but at the same time we can hold our heads high because we are dignified in our defeat. We did everything we could to win and unfortunately we were unable to do so, but we come away proud.”
Following the culmination of his international commitments, the striker will now set his focus on his club duties for Benfica.
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