UEFA happy with penalty spot

UEFA insists it was happy with the condition of the penalty spots before England’s shoot-out against Portugal.

Venue managers had replaced the turf around the spots before Thursday night's match in Lisbon's Estadio da Luz following complaints from England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

UEFA communications director William Gaillard said Swiss referee Urs Meier had inspected both penalty spots and was happy for the shoot-out to go ahead.

Gaillard said: "Everyone saw that everyone was looking at the penalty spot before taking the kicks. It seems that one player had a particular problem with the penalty spot but none of the others everyone can draw their own conclusions. The referee looked at both the spots and was happy with the condition and they flipped a coin to decide which end."