Lisbon: Hosts Portugal kept their hopes alive of reaching the second phase of Euro Cup with a convincing 2-0 win over Group A rivals Russia at the Stadium of Light.

Goals from FC Porto midfielder Maniche and Rui Costa proved enough to bag the points and Portugal must now beat Spain on Sunday (Jun 19, 2004) to qualify for the quarter-finals.

But the Portuguese, stunned by Greece in their opening match, yesterday (Jun 16, 2004) made heavy weather of a Russian side reduced to ten men following the sending-off seconds before the interval of goalkeeper Sergey Ovchinnikov.

Ovchinnikov appeared to handle the ball outside his area as Pauleta bore down on him and Norwegian referee Terje Hauge had no option other than to show the red card.

Stewards hauled away a Russian fan who appeared pitchside to protest at the sending-off as the Russians, having already lost to Spain, made an undignified exit from the tournament.

Midfielder Yevgeny Aldonin gave way as reserve keeper Viacheslav Malafeev of Zenit St Petersburg came on to make a string of fine saves which kept the crowd fidgeting in their seats.

Portugal's captain Luis Figo admitted his side had been under huge pressure. "It was very important for us because if we didn't win we would have been out of it.

"The players felt under pressure because we wanted to do well and because we started really bad against the Greeks.

"However we settled better this time."