Why Nani’s Place in Portugal’s Starting XI Is Under Threat Ahead of Euro 2016

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 9, 2016

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We spoke about Ricardo Quaresma on these pages just a few days ago. The Portugal winger’s career has long been fodder for such discussions, of course.

We talked about the fallen idol, the career which could have been and the real sense of underachievement from a player who once promised so much. Obviously, something similar would have been written somewhere before, such has been his up, down and even further down existence.



All of that had come into sharp focus with the Besiktas man’s fine performance and even finer goal in Portugal’s 3-0 friendly win over Norway in Porto as their preparations for the Euro 2016 finals kicked up a notch.

However, everyone is aware that the 32-year-old has a tendency to make such praise look foolhardy almost instantly. Disappointment has followed him around repeatedly, but it is the flashes of genius which make him worth persevering with.

But fast forward to Lisbon on Wednesday—via London and Bruno Alves’ kung-fu kick on Harry Kane—and we saw a performance from Quaresma which indicated that he might be about to display consistency for the first time in living memory.

As Portugal coach Fernando Santos named a strong side for the friendly clash with Estonia in the capital, Quaresma’s display was one of both energy and intelligence. Crucially, he looked at home in a side with Cristiano Ronaldo as its de facto dominant force.



Quaresma and Ronaldo both scored twice as the Portuguese put seven goals past Estonia in front of 52,000 hopeful home supporters, and although the opposition might not have been the strongest, the result will have given huge cheer to Santos ahead of his side entering Euro 2016 combat against Iceland in Saint-Etienne on Tuesday.

Of course, the focus was on Ronaldo in the friendly. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.



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Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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