Euro Cup 2012: Bust up threatens Portugal’s hopes

Opalenica (Poland): Portugal defender Miguel Lopes and attacker Ricardo Quaresma came to blows during a training session on Saturday.

The incident happened towards the end of a team practice when the Braga man made a robust challenge on the Besiktas winger, who responded angrily to the tackle and aimed a kick at the right-back. The two players went on to hurl verbal abuse at each other amidst a lot of pushing, and had to be torn apart by coach Paulo Bento and defender Ricardo Costa, who confirmed the rumours about the bust-up to the media. "These are things that can happen in training," the Valencia centre-half revealed at a press conference. "There was rather strong challenge for the ball. We’re virile, we always want to win challenges, and sometimes small incidents happen." Portugal qualified for the semi-finals of Euro 2012 after a 1-0 win over Czech Republic and will meet the winner of the fixture between Spain and France in the next stage of the competition. Goal.com