Portugal ‘must change’ to avoid repeat of Slovenia loss, warns Bruno Fernandes

Bruno Fernandes says his Portugal team will respect Slovenia even if they aren’t expected to be the quality of a team who could win Euro 2024. Photograph: Bagu Blanco/Pressinphoto/REX/Shutterstock

Bruno Fernandes has said Portugal will be wary of Slovenia’s counterattacking threat and conceded a friendly defeat by their last-16 opponents in March has put him and his teammates “on their toes”.

Fernandes said he expected Slovenia to set up to frustrate in a low defensive block and his manager, Roberto Martínez, stressed the importance of his side keeping their emotions in check.

Fernandes did not play in the last meeting between the sides but said Portugal must learn their lesson from that defeat in Ljubljana. “We spoke about the game in recent days because it’s good for us to have that image where they did a great game against us,” the midfielder said.

“We had the chance to see what we need to do differently to make sure we hurt them. They have two players up front who combine really well together. This team [Slovenia] has high-quality players and we respect them greatly. We had a friendly where they beat us and this needs to put us on our toes. We need to change, we need to do things differently to make sure we get a positive result.

“For us, it doesn’t matter whether we are playing Slovenia or any other team that are more typical candidates to win the Euros because our goal is the same: we respect every opponent … we don’t look at the name of the team, we look at the players because we need to study them closely.”

Asked whether he could speak to his Manchester United club-mates to learn from England’s frustrating 0-0 Group C draw with Slovenia, Fernandes replied: “I’ve been in touch [with them] but not been speaking about the games or something that we could do different because we play different football. England play in a certain way, we play in a different way, so it’s not going to help me much. I trust my teammates and we as a team really trust the staff and the backroom staff to prepare us best to approach the game.”

Portugal hope to return to winning ways after defeat by Georgia in their final Group F match, for which Martínez made nine outfield changes. Martínez said he had no concerns about the pitch at the Frankfurt Arena after Uefa conceded it needed to improve from earlier in the tournament, and insisted his players were ready for the knockout stage. “We’ve had three games, tomorrow [Monday] it’s a different kettle of fish,” the Spaniard said. “We know now that it’s do or die.

“We need to control the moment, control our emotions, we need to enjoy it, show our potential and showcase our quality. Slovenia are very good defensively and they don’t need a lot of possession to be dangerous. We need to have a lot of patience. We cannot let emotions get the better of us.”