Bento flags Nani concerns

Portugal head coach Paulo Bento says Nani faces a struggle to be considered for his team’s Euro 2012 clash with Germany on Saturday.

The Manchester United forward has been a doubt for the match against Joachim Loew’s side after sustaining a foot injury in Portugal’s 3-1 friendly defeat to Turkey last Saturday.

He resumed training on Thursday and appeared to set to line-up for Portugal in the Group B match, but his availability will now depend on the result of a late fitness test, according to Bento.

“Nani trained yesterday (Thursday) and he will also train today,” Bento said.

“We will then assess his physical condition, because he was out for some days and he has had similar injuries before.

“We will decide tomorrow whether to deploy him. If he does not play, we will choose a player with different characteristics, but that will not change who we are as a team.”

Germany have been heavily backed to beat Portugal on Saturday, but Bento insisted his players will do their utmost to prove their critics wrong and emerge victorious.

“We hope that we will be at our best, because we will play against a team with a lot of quality,” he said.

“We will try to seek a good result from the first minute. We will look at Germany in the eye.”

Miguel Veloso has been the target of much criticism following his sub-par display against Turkey, but Bento refused to say whether the Genoa midfielder would start as a substitute against Germany.

“The only thing I can say is that I have no doubts about who will play tomorrow, except for Nani, but that is because of other factors,” he said.

“Other than that, I have no doubt about who will play as a number six, but I will not reveal who it will be.”