EURO CUP

There is more to Portugal than Ronaldo: Lopes

FBL-EURO-2016-POR-TRAINING Cristiano Ronaldo (L) takes part in a training session at the team's base camp in Marcoussis | AFP
  • Ronaldo will captain Portugal at Euro 2016 where they kick off their campaign with a Group F clash against Iceland on Tuesday.

Portugal goalkeeper Anthony Lopes says there is a lot more to their side than "best player in the world" Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lopes, who plays for Olympique Lyonnais, is glad to be able to count on Ronaldo as a team mate, but says any talk of Portugal being a one-man outfit is misplaced.

"We have the best player in the world and in France there is a lot of talk of Ronaldo, but we are 23 players and all of us have quality," he said on the Portugal soccer federation's website.

"The national team is not just one player." Ronaldo will captain Portugal at Euro 2016 where they kick off their campaign with a Group F clash against Iceland on Tuesday.

The Real Madrid forward goes into the tournament having scored 58 goals in 126 appearances for his country.

He scored twice while playing 46 minutes in a 7-0 romp over Estonia on Wednesday, Portugal's final warm-up game before their Euro 2016 opener in St Etienne.

"The game against Estonia was fantastic and everything went well," Lopes said.

"But we expect a different game against Iceland. They have players that are very strong and athletic. It's not going to be easy to play against them..."We want to give our all to win the tournament and go into every match knowing that we represent a big nation.

"Lopes feels right at home in France, where he was born and has played his whole career.After competing for Portugal at Under-19 and Under-21 levels, he made his senior debut in March 2015 and is likely to be back-up in France to Sporting Lisbon keeper Rui Patricio.

"I'm delighted to be here in France representing Portugal and playing at a European Championship," he said.

"The coach will decide who will start. I just have to help the team and Rui as much as possible.

"It's not a problem for me to be Rui's understudy."Portugal also take on Austria on June 18 in Paris and end the group stage four days later against Hungary in Lyon.

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.
Topics : #Euro Cup 2016

Related Reading