I just did my job, as I have been doing lately. I always try to give my best for my country and for my club – that is always my goal. We allowed Sweden to grow in confidence after they scored their first goal. Then they got the second and the final result became wide open again, but that is what makes football so beautiful. Then we fought back and we were deserved winners.
It was not a priority for me to break Pauleta's record [of 47 national team goals, which Ronaldo equalled]. I knew Portugal needed me and I stuck to the task at hand. Now we have some time to rest and to do our best for our clubs before starting to think about the World Cup.
Paulo Bento, Portugal coach
A player that gets a hat-trick in a game of this stature is always decisive. Until we went 1-0 up, we did not have many problems – we controlled the game very well in the first 45 minutes, especially in defence, and we had the better chances. In the second half, after a great save from Rui Patrício, we made it 1-0, but we sat back, conceded two goals from set pieces and made things hard for ourselves.
