The European Championship hosts, who had not beaten neighbours Spain for 23 years and never defeated them in a competitive international, broke that run with a 1-0 win which took them into the Euro 2004 quarter-finals and kept them on course for their first major title.

Scolari, whose team had some poor results in warm-up friendlies, said they had come good at the right moment.

"Before the tournament, I made history in a negative way," he said. "I lost some games Portugal had never lost before.

"But in the game where we needed to change history, the game on which our qualification depended, was today. 1-0 was very good. I would have settled for half-nil."

The Brazilian, who led his own country to their fifth World Cup win two years ago, reminded reporters that he had promised to take Portugal to the semi-finals.

"I still haven't kept my promise which is to get to the last four," he said.

Scolari, whose team began their Group A campaign with a 2-1 defeat by Greece before beating Russia 2-0, praised the public who he said lined the route from Portugal's training camp in Alcochete outside Lisbon to the stadium.

He was also delighted with the spirit shown by his players.

"We were very poor against Greece and nobody stopped encouraging us, nobody stopped supporting us," he said. "We were brilliant in terms of fighting spirit and struggle. I know people get angry when I say fight but those are the words I use."

Scolari added that he did not have to prove anything to those who criticised him before the tournament.

"All I'm worried about is working with my players," he said. "I like what I do. I don't think I have to give an answer anybody."

Portugal forward Luis Figo said his side played better before they scored the goal.

"We played very well in the first half, we created more chances but after that it was impossible to keep up the same tempo for the whole game."