Da Costa: Portugal deserved better

Defender Manuel da Costa said Portugal "deserved to go the Olympic Games, not Italy" after a penalty shoot-out defeat in Nijmegen denied them a trip to Beijing.

Unhappy statistics
The fifth-placed play-off at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship gave both sides a chance to claw back some pride after disappointing performances in the group stage here. But Portugal failed to take advantage and despite having an extra man for the final 15 minutes and 57 per cent of the possession, they were unable to score with any of their 16 shots on goal as 120 minutes of football ended goalless.

'That's football'
"We knew we would play like this - we need to have the ball," said the PSV Eindhoven defender. "We showed we deserved to go the Olympic Games, not Italy. Today, it's the team that deserved it the least that won. Sometimes it's like this, sometimes it's not. That's football." A 4-3 defeat on penalties prolonged Portugal's unwanted record of never having eliminated Italy at U21 level.

Strong finish
José Couceiro's team ended the tournament much better than they started it, beating Israel 4-0 in their final Group A game before facing Italy. "In these two games we played better than any other team in this competition," said Da Costa, who missed the end of the match through injury. "If we had played like this from the start we would have qualified for the Olympics a long time ago."

Knee injury
Italy were reduced to ten men with Giuseppe Rossi's 74th minute dismissal and Da Costa was soon a casualty for Portugal, being taken off injured after 85 minutes. "It's the knee injury I suffered from at PSV," he said. "It was already hurting during the warm-up and I felt it through the whole game. The medical staff didn't want to take risks but I would have gone on to help my team-mates."

Rest cure
Now, Da Costa is hoping to earn a place in the Portuguese senior national team as he looks to put U21 disappointment behind him. "I want to go UEFA EURO 2008™ - that's my goal," he said. "But that will only happen if I play regularity for my club. I am still young and I can gain experience. This season I want to be a champion and to go a long way in the UEFA Champions League." For now, he is hoping for a holiday. "I will now rest, have fun at the beach with some friends and do what it takes to empty my head before the new season."