UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Olsen sees hope for Norway

Group A preview: Norway coach Egil Olsen hopes his side can exploit Portugal's defensive weaknesses.

'Chance in their defence'
The Norwegians trail both Portugal and Italy by a point but enter the match knowing a victory will take them into the last four of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship. Olsen said: "We are strong in defence - it is difficult to score against us - and our chance is in their defence.

Recent meeting
"They are not that strongly organised defensively, Italy created many more chances against Portugal than they did against us. Our challenge will be to score - we will have to score a goal to get to the semi-final." Portugal were 3-0 winners when the sides met in a friendly in March and Olsen is under no illusions about the difficulty of the task ahead.

'A strong team'
"They are a strong team with high quality - if you talk about individual skills they have very strong players up front and on the wings," he said. "They beat us 3-0 in Portugal but that time we lacked some of our best players so hopefully we'll have a closer match now."

Daniel injured
Olsen hopes defender Eirik Bertheussen will recover from an eye problem but midfield players Henning Hauger (thigh) and Tommy Edvardsen (knee) are injured. Portugal coach Carlos Dinis, meanwhile, is missing his captain, Daniel, who has a thigh injury.

Morale high
He said that "morale is very high" after the 1-1 draw with the Italians and added: "It's not easy to know what to expect as Norway have played two very different games but we need to go out with a positive attitude and try to control the game."

Ferronetti suspended
Italy face Liechtenstein, who are already eliminated, in the other match in Balzers knowing a win will see them through. They are without the suspended Damiano Ferronetti and injured Andrea Mantovani, and coach Paolo Berrettini will hope for no yellow cards given he has five players one booking away from a suspension. Both games kick off at 18.30CET.

Selected for you