29 June 2006, by Tom Kundert

Pauleta: “We’re better than at Euro 2004”

Pedro Pauleta believes that Portugal are a stronger side than when they last played England at the 2004 European Championships.

On that occasion Portugal came out on top on penalties after a 2-2 draw. However, the Azorean striker also believes England have improved over the last two years.

“I think we’re better than in 2004. We’ve kept practically the same players and we have two more years of experience. The team is stronger, but so is England, who are full of world-class players.”

Anger at fabricated stories

Pauleta expressed his anger at stories circulating in several media sources, suggesting that he had pointed out England’s goalkeeper Paul Robinson as the weakest link.

The supposed comments were printed in The Sun yesterday, and picked up on by a number of unsuspecting media outlets. “The whole ‘interview’ was completely made up. Unfortunately football has this aspect.”

The PSG striker also refuted the idea that England were playing badly. “The press was saying that Spain was the best team in the competition and they’ve been knocked out. I don’t believe that England are playing badly, because they have been effective, have been winning and haven’t let in goals.”

Portugal’s all-time record goalscorer played down the absence of suspended midfielders Deco and Costinha, saying “I think we won’t feel a big difference with the players coming in to replace Deco and Costinha.”