"We hope the trouble we had in the group stage will make Spain a stronger team," he told Marca. "We are pleased with our performances so far and happy to have finished top in the group after the start we had."

"Portugal are a great team and they are in top form. I am looking forward to playing against team-mates and friends Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe. Let's see if we can make it to the quarter-finals."

"Cristiano is very fast, strong and a speedster with the ball at his feet. I have to prevent him from receiving the ball and we must stop him from having a lot of room to work with."

Meanwhile, Portugal's Simao has talked up his sides chances of upsetting the European champions, claiming they're "not scared at all" of Spain.

"They're one of the best teams in the world but it's 50-50," he said. "Without showing them a lack of respect, we're not scared at all. We've got a great team too. And to become better, we have to beat Spain. They're champions of Europe, but we have our own qualities.

"You have to be aggressive. I don't mean committing fouls, but pressure the ball carrier and play our own game. They like keeping the ball, but it's not always the team that has the ball that wins."

The Atletico Madrid winger added: "It's normal that they wanted to avoid Brazil. But we're strong as well and I think we'll give them at least as many problems. Instead of talking about Spain all the time, we need to focus on ourselves."

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