Bento: Portugal deserved to defeat Greece

Bento's men failed to produce any real attacking threat during a dour game in which they were without the services of Cristiano Ronaldo due to the injury problems that were a concern throughout Real Madrid's end-of-season run-in.

But, despite Portugal's failure to break through a well-organised Greece side, Bento was quick to praise his players for their efforts, insisting that they deserved to win.

"We have to prepare to play and be competitive without Cristiano Ronaldo and even other players who are normally available," Bento said in quotes reported by O Jogo.

"Today this has happened and we used the 4-4-2 system, we did well.

"From what we produced in the first half we deserved to be ahead, given the quality of our football in the first 20 or 25 minutes.

"Only in the last 10 minutes could we be accused of some fatigue, but we never failed to control the game.

"We were penalised for a lack of effectiveness, because we deserved to win.

"Anyway I have to congratulate the players for the work done throughout the week and the game today."