Ronaldo fears "Big Phil" in Portugal friendly

Brazilian star Ronaldo has said Brazil is in for a rough ride when it faces Portugal in a friendly on Saturday now that his former boss Luiz Filipe Scolari is in charge of the Portuguese side.

"With Scolari on the other side it is natural that we will have greater difficulties," he told reporters in Porto where the match will take place, sports daily A Bola reported Thursday. "'Big Phil' knows us well."

Scolari, who is known as "Big Phil" to his compatriots, resigned as Brazil coach in August after steering his country to their fifth World Cup victory in June. The 54-year-old took over as Portugal coach in January.
Hopes are high in Portugal that Scolari will lead the national squad, which crashed out of last year's World Cup in the first round after losses to the United States and South Korea, to victory in the Euro 2004 championship the country will host.

Since Portugal, as host nation, automatically qualifies for Euro 2004, Scolari has sought to line the squad up in competitive friendlies to prepare for the tournament.

But Ronaldo, who currently plays for Spain's European champions Real Madrid, said the stakes were high for Brazil as well as the team is looking to keep the prestige it won with its World cup win.

"We are going to try to show our five-time world champion status before a team that is not going to make our job easy," he said.

Ronaldo scored both goals for Brazil in the 2-0 win over Germany in the World Cup final last June.