Misfiring Ronaldo 'amazing' in Portugal's win over Poland: Coach Santos

Portugal coach Fernando Santos has described skipper Cristiano Ronaldo's performance as 'amazing' despite his failure to score a goal in his side's 5-3 penalty shootout win against Poland in the quarter-finals of the Euro 2016 in Marseille on 1 July.

Applauding Ronaldo's exemplary performance against Poland, Santos insisted the star striker doesn't need to score to have a good game.

"I don't talk about individuals but Pepe and Cristiano played an amazing game, I think people undervalue them. People focus on CR - he has to score goals, goals, goals, but he has been playing amazing, he's an amazing captain," Santos was quoted as saying by goal.com.

The Portugal coach was also full of praise for `immense` player Pepe and goal-scorer Renato Sanches.

"Renato played a great game, he still has a lot to offer, he's still growing, the Renato Sanches you saw today is not the finished article, he will be better in the future," the 61-year-old added.

After both sides settled with a 1-1 draw at the end of the regulation time and the extra time, Portugal and Poland were taken to penalties to decide the winner.

Star striker Ronaldo netted the opening penalty to put his side in lead before Poland's Robert Lewandowski levelled the score.

Renato Sanches and Joao Moutinho then scored their respective penalties for Portugal, but Arkadiusz Milik and Kamil Glik once again equalized the score for Poland at 3-3.

Midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski then missed a crucial penalty for Poland as Nani and Ricardo Quaresma guided Portugal to the semi-finals of the European Championship.

Portugal will now aim to book their place in the finals when they take on their undecided opponent in Euro 2016 semi-final clash on July 7.

-ANI