Gibraltar no comparison for Switzerland, says Santos

Fernando Santos conceded Portugal’s friendly victory over Gibraltar was not a vigorous warm-up for their looming World Cup qualifier against Switzerland.

The European champions ran out 5-0 winners in Porto on Thursday, Nani scoring twice before three goals in six second-half minutes put the minnows to the sword.

Tougher tests await for Portugal in the shape of Switzerland in their opening qualifier in Basel on Tuesday and Sant
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os knows there is no use in comparing the merits of the two opponents.

“I think this game was important because it was better than a training session, because many of these players needed to increase their pace, because the season is beginning and many are down on their normal level,” he said.

“This game had nothing to do with the match against Switzerland. They are two completely different teams, so there is no reason to do one thing with another.

“We faced an opponent who didn’t create a major obstacle for us in offensive terms, then it has no comparison with the match against Switzerland.

“We know that [Switzerland] is a decisive game because theoretically, in the group there are three teams that will fight for the qualification – Portugal, Switzerland and Hungary, and we will face these two early on.

“Switzerland will play at home, so I expect a very tough match, but I think Portugal can do well. We will go to Switzerland with the same target, which is always to win and that’s what we try to do.”