Germany pin hopes on stopping Ronaldo
Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff admits team has "special plan" to stop Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo
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Thursday, 19, Jun 2008 05:00
German players are being briefed on how to stop Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of their Euro 2008 quarter-final with Portugal.
The Manchester United winger has shrugged off fevered rumours of a move to Real Madrid by firing Portugal to the last eight.
Luiz Felipe Scolari had the luxury of resting his star player in the team's dead rubber defeat to Switzerland, meaning the 23-year-old goes into tonight's Basel clash fully refreshed.
While Portugal impressed in breezing through group A, Germany laboured to the runners-up spot by losing to Croatia and recording an unconvincing win over neighbours Austria.
Speaking ahead of the quarter-final, for which manager Joachim Low is suspended for after being sent to the stands in the Austria win, Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff admitted the team had a "special plan" to stop Ronaldo.
"Ronaldo is the best player in the world," the former striker continued.
"You can never stop him for 90 minutes even though you can ask defenders and midfielders to keep a close eye on him.
"We can't expect one or two players to stop him so it has to be the group as a whole that needs to confront him."
But Bierhoff insisted Germany were all too aware of the quality running through the Portuguese ranks.
"The problem with Portugal is that they also have other top players," he explained.
"They have a great team and have an experienced coach in Luiz Felipe Scolari. They will be tough opponents but we are ready.
"Portugal are favourites but Germany plays better when facing top teams."