Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari hailed ten-man England's heroic quarter-final defeat to his side on Saturday. England played for almost an hour with a man less after Wayne Rooney was sent off after 62 minutes, but still forced the game to a penalty shoot-out.

"Congratulations to England, with 10 players they were incredible, it was an electrifying match," said Scolari.

"We didn't take advantage because we shot too much from outside the penalty area. England closed the way to goal very well and it was like playing 11 against 11."

Scolari saw his side fail to create any clear-cut chances, but keeper Ricardo parried a World Cup record three penalty kicks to put Portugal into the last four for the first time in forty years.

"This was a game to win," said Ricardo, who scored the winning shoot-out penalty when the two nations met at Euro 2004. "It reached penalties once again, thank God I managed to save three. We are super happy."