Fernando Santos sensed that mind games were afoot. The Portugal manager had heard his Poland counterpart, Adam Nawalka, suggest that his star player, Robert Lewandowski, had been bullied by opposing defenders and barely protected by referees thus far at Euro 2016.
The numbers, according to Nawalka, have not told the full story. Lewandowski has been fouled more times than any other player but that does not factor in how the striker’s rivals are routinely on the edge of hearing the whistle when they step towards him. Was it an attempt by Nawalka to pressure the German referee, Felix Brych, ahead of Thursday night’s quarter-final in Marseille?
Either way, Santos was confident that it would not work. “The referees at this level cannot be pressured,” Santos said, his laid-back tone setting down a marker for his players. “The referees here are very unbiased, and they know how football is. The referees at this level will be outstanding. If there is a foul, they will whistle – I have no doubt about it.”
Nawalka had earlier highlighted the legitimate practice of how opposing teams had double- and triple-marked Lewandowski, who has yet to score at these finals. He also talked about the darker arts. “The rivals try to attack him on the border of fouls all the time, although Robert is coping, physically, very well,” he said.
“The referees, generally, should be paying particular attention to some brutal fouls in football, in order to eliminate situations when an opponent is trying to eliminate, at any costs, a particular player from the game. Referees have to pay attention to make sure those kind of fouls are picked up very quickly. They have to react with red and yellow cards. That would eliminate brutal fouls from the game.”
To many onlookers, the spiciest detail of this quarter-final is the clash between two of the game’s biggest star names – Lewandowski versus Cristiano Ronaldo. Nawalka said he almost did not want to mention Ronaldo while the respect that the Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik had for the Portugal man was clear.
Milik talked about how, when he was younger, he sought to model aspects of his game on Ronaldo’s. “You need to take inspiration from him,” he said. “And he is an example of hard work, it’s not just talent. It will be something special to play against him.”
Neither Lewandowski nor Ronaldo have truly ignited yet, although Ronaldo was outstanding in Portugal’s third group game – the 3-3 draw against Hungary, in which he scored twice. Santos is used to talking about Ronaldo. “Everybody talks about him and there is a reason for that,” he said. “People only talk about great players. It’s normal to talk about him or Lewandowski or Manuel Neuer.”
But Santos knows that safe passage to the semi-finals will come down to more than one player’s performance. “Individual talent is an added value but tournaments are won by teams,” he said. “This game against Poland is strictly 50-50. I think we will win.”
