Portugal manager Fernando Santos is confident his side will once again rise to the occasion when they face Turkey in a World Cup playoff semi-final.
The two sides meet in Porto on Thursday night, with the winner facing either Italy or North Macedonia on March 29 for a place at the World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year.
Portugal lifted the trophy at Euro 2016 before winning the Nations League in 2019, and Santos believes those experience will stand the team in good stead when faced with the pressure of playing for a World Cup place.
“What has always happened for the Portuguese national team is a positive pressure,” Santos said.
“The two finals we’ve been in, we won. In qualifiers, the decisive ones, we always gave a positive response, with the exception of the last one (against Serbia).
“These players have a lot of experience and don’t let themselves be influenced.”
Portugal, needing only a draw from their final qualifier, looked to be heading for Qatar when Renato Sanches gave them the lead inside two minutes against Serbia in November.
But they dropped into the playoffs after Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a 90th-minute winner, a result that means at least one of Portugal and Italy will not be at the World Cup later this year.
“We are here because of our own responsibility, we have already assumed that,” Santos said.
“Obviously we don’t take credit away from Serbia, but there was some (fault with) us.
“We didn’t play well. If that had happened, we would have achieved the goal.
“We have to set the standard of this team. We have been in two finals and won. Tomorrow, it’s another final, and we want to give joy to the 11 million Portuguese people.”
