Character the key for Portugal

Another fightback
The Portuguese will face Italy in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship final on Saturday following a second successive match in which they recovered a 2-0 deficit. The first was Sunday's 2-2 draw with Norway.

'Kept their composure'
"My players showed great character," said Dinis. "We knew that this game would go to the very end. The players kept their composure and managed to turn it around. Nobody would have predicted that after 30 minutes we'd be 2-0 down. It's the second time we've done this and I think whatever happens this team have shown they are a team."

Goalkeeper deflects praise
While Hugo Almeida, Organista, Paulo Sérgio (2) and Pedro Pereira (2) were scoring Portugal's goals, keeper Paulo Ribeiro kept out two penalties at the other end. The Vitória FC player said: "The other players were giving their all so I had to do my bit too."

Pivotal moment
Austria coach Paul Gludovatz described Paulo Ribeiro's first stop, from Martin Lassnig shortly before half-time, as the pivotal moment of the match. "I think it was the first penalty - we attacked a lot in the first half and 3-2 would have been a fair score at half-time," he said.

'Knockout blow'
"At 3-2 for Portugal we lost control but after going down to ten men we became more aggressive and that helped us get back into the match. But Portugal's fourth goal was the knockout blow."

Made their mark
Despite the defeat, Gludovatz had plenty of reason to congratulate his players and said: "We played very hard and with a lot of passion. I think we produced a memorable game for all the spectators. It was my last match with this team and it was good that they have now made their mark by reaching the top four in Europe and I'd like to thank each of them."