Neville will come face face with Portugal's 19-year-old talent at the Stadium of Light and he expects a very busy 90 minutes.

The two have played against each other every day in training over the last year and Neville has seen all Ronaldo's tricks, step-overs and fancy moves a hundred times. But he still believes it won't be easy to keep the young talent at bay.

He said: "All I know is I'm going to play a player who won't give me a single second's rest for the full 90 minutes.

"I think he's a special talent. I know him at first hand and he's surprised me since Christmas.

"I felt there were glimpses of brilliance before that but since Christmas he's showed everybody at United that's he's going to be a world class player.

"In this tournament it's taken them two games to get him in the team but it's made them a lot more enthusiastic, a lot more vibrant going forward.

"Ronaldo looks a danger in the air, a danger on the ground and a danger in all positions. We're going to have to be at our best to stop him, but we expect that.

"We've already played Zidane and Henry, now we've got Figo, Ronaldo and Deco. They are great players and we have to make sure we defend well against them."

Ronaldo has made a major impact in England since arriving at Old Trafford last year. But not everyone accepted his talent straightaway and there were suggestions from some fans that he was nothing more than a fancy dan.

Neville, however, knows better.

"Oh no, this is the real thing," he said. "This is no show pony. This lad is courageous and by that I mean that he never stops wanting the football.

"If he gets tackled nine times on the bounce he will still want it the tenth time and still want to go past you.

"He's a fantastic player, but I have played against him every day in training this season so I know about him.

"With Figo on the other wing, me and Ashley will have to be at our best, we are going to have to defend against them one on one and we are going to have to be tight.

"We will maybe have to get beat from time to time, that's what happens because these players can beat you at any time. But we will need cover and I'm sure we can cope."

Neville has already worked out in his head how he will deal with Ronaldo, and there is no major secret.

He said: "As a defender you just have to watch the ball as much as you can. It's not so much the step over, the worry for a defender is that he can go either way.

"This player has got a strong left foot and strong right foot, that's the problem. You know he can go outside or inside and that's the same for both their wide players.

"We know it will be a tough game. There will be slick passing from Deco, movement from everyone. That's what we have to deal with and the Porto players are carrying the confidence with them from the Champions League.

"But we have great players as well and we will be ready for them. Portugal, France and England all have expections that they can win the tournament so the pressure will be the same on both of us.

"Right now our fans will be dancing in the streets thinking we're the best team in the world and I hope they can be dancing again on Thursday. But we have to keep our feet on the ground."

To listen to the full interview with Gary, click on one of the links below.

22 June 2004  
Gary Neville on Portugal - AUDIO

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