Portugal 2-0 Turkey: Focused Ronaldo thrives for Portugal

ANY doubts about where Cristiano Ronaldo's focus would be at the start of Euro 2008 were dispelled in Portugal's comfortable win over Turkey in their Group A opener.

Widely tipped to be the player of the tournament, Ronaldo came to Switzerland in the middle of a tug of war between his club Manchester United and Real Madrid for his future services and doubts about his concentration on the job in hand.

The winger did not score but came close at least twice and played a major role in Portugal's fine attacking performance that underlined their status among the tournament favourites.

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"Playing like that we can win the European (Championship]. We scored twice, had two balls on the posts and one on the bar," said Ronaldo.

A Ronaldo free kick was turned onto the post by Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel in the first half, while in the second the keeper again did well to grasp Ronaldo's low shot.

Ronaldo even sported the captain's armband, passed on by Nuno Gomes in the 69th minute when he was substituted. Portugal's dominance had been rewarded nine minutes earlier when central defender Pepe burst forward, played a one-two with Gomes and clipped the ball home.

The clinching goal came deep in injury time as Ronaldo fed Joao Moutinho, who in turn set up Raul Meireles to slide into an empty net.

Portugal: Ricardo, Bosingwa, Pepe, Carvalho, Ferreira, Petit, Joao Moutinho, Ronaldo, Deco (Fernando Meira 90), Simao (Raul Meireles 82), Nuno Gomes (Nani 68). Subs not used: Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Hugo Almeida, Miguel, Jorge Ribeiro, Quaresma, Veloso, Postiga, Quim.

Turkey: Demirel, Altintop (Senturk 76), Cetin, Zan (Asik 55), Balta, Kazim-Richards, Emre, Aurelio, Erding (Sarioglu 46), Sanli, Nihat. Subs not used: Rustu, Zengin, Topal, Karadeniz, Metin, Gungor, Turan, Boral, Akman.