When you think of Portugal, the first name which comes to your mind is Cristiano Ronaldo and from the Poland team the first name that comes to everyone’s mind is Robert Lewandowski. The two captains are mainstay of their side and if they have an off day, their side, invariably end up with defeat.
The two teams have played eight matches in Euro 2016 combined but only one of them was of good quality, when we talk from an attacking perspective. It was when Ronaldo netted a brace in a 3-3 draw with Hungary.
On the other hand, Lewandowski is yet to score a single goal and Poland has scored just three goals in four matches. They have reached the quarterfinal because of their defence by conceding just one goal in Euro 2016. They also held their nerves in the penalty shootout.
It would not be wrong to say that a lot of pressure will be on Ronaldo and Lewandowski to step up for their respective teams when Portugal and Poland play the first quarterfinal on Thursday.
“Everybody is talking about Cristiano Ronaldo and there’s a reason for that – he’s an amazing player,” Portugal manager Fernando Santos said. “There are hundreds of players here we don’t talk about every day, but it’s normal to talk about players like Ronaldo or Lewandowski. Ronaldo knows how to deal with that.”