The attacking threat of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo will not force Spain to change their approach when they face Portugal in the Euro 2012 semi-final here Wednesday, Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso said.
Ronaldo endured a slow start to the tournament but has scored three goals in Portugal’s last two games to give his side victories over the Netherlands in the group stage and the Czech Republic in the quarter-final.
“For all the talk about Ronaldo, we won’t change our style and we don’t have a special marking plan,” Alonso said on the UEFA website Monday. “We’ll study his play and we might make minor adjustments but our best defence is to play as a team and not give him space.”
Ronaldo has never scored against Spain. Portugal inflicted a 4-0 thrashing on Spain in their last meeting, a friendly in November 2010, five months after Spain beat Portugal 1-0 in the last 16 of the World Cup. Their last meeting at a European championship came in Portugal in 2004, when the then-hosts beat Spain 1-0 to send them home before the knockout stages.