Portugal midfielder Raul Meireles dismissed talk of teams being favourites pointing out how few expected his side to reach the quarter-finals at the expense of Netherlands.
The Portuguese team were in the fabled 'Group of Death' but managed to make a good account of themselves as they registered wins over Denmark and Netherlands.
Meireles, who played in all three group games for A Seleccao, said that he understands why pundits tip other sides as being the favourites to win Euro 2012.
But he pointed out how his side have already proved their doubters wrong by qualifying from the group and the Chelsea midfielder revealed that he drew inspiration from his club's Champions League win, concluding that it would be foolish to label any side as favourites.
"Chelsea won the Champions League when nobody considered them as favourites," the 29-year-old said.
"When we began this tournament, nobody mentioned Portugal as one of the favourites.
"The best example for me is what I experienced with Chelsea this year in the Champions League. If we manage to do the same it will be the realisation of a dream.
"There are no favourites really, because Germany and Holland were the favourites in our group and we qualified."
Paulo Bento's side face the Czech Republic in the first quarter-final on Thursday night. The former Liverpool player believes that the Czechs will be a difficult opposition as his side watched how Tomas Rosicky's side bounced back from an opening-game defeat to progress and eliminate Russia from the competition.
"We watched some of their games. They didn't begin very well, like us [Portugal lost 1-0 to Germany], and they reacted brilliantly to it.
"We are expecting a very strong team, it will be a difficult match but we are going to do everything we can to neutralise their strong points on the pitch."
The winner of the Portugal-Czech Republic quarter-final will get to play the winner of the Spain-France match in the semi-finals.
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