PREVIEW: Friendly - Poland v Portugal (29 Feb, 20:45 CET)

 FOOTBALL - On Wednesday 29 February, Poland host Portugal in an international friendly at Warsaw’s National Stadium. We have lined up a few key statistics on this match.

> Poland kick off their Euro 2012 (which they co-host) warmup campaign with a friendly in Warsaw against Portugal, which hosted Euro 2004.

> Two years before that, the two met at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Portugal rolled 4-0 and Pauleta scored three goals. That would remain the last World Cup hat-trick until Gonzalo Higuaín netted three times for Argentina against Korea Republic at the 2010 World Cup.

> Current Portugal head coach Paulo Bento played in that match in 2002. Neither Portugal nor Poland made it out of their World Cup group, which also featured Korea Republic and the United States.

> Cristiano Ronaldo can join Pauleta in fourth place for most international appearances for Portugal if he earns his 88th cap. His 32 international goals rank behind only Pauleta’s 47 and Eusébio’s 41 for the Portuguese national team.

> Only two players in the current Polish squad have scored more than six international goals. Robert Lewandowski, a Warsaw native, has netted 13 times and Jakub Blaszczykowski has netted eight times. Both represent German Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund at club level.

>  On 8 June 2012, Poland will play the opening match of Euro 2012 at Warsaw’s National Stadium, where they will take on Greece.