Portugal are not one-man team says Costa

“This team is a group – and Cristiano is the emblem, there’s no doubt of that,” he said. “He is not just another player. But we are not dependent upon him, but upon all 23 of us, the coach (Paulo Bento) and everyone connected with the team.”

After a slow start to the competition, Ronaldo has finally found his form with three goals in the last two matches – including the header which sank the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals – to set up a semi-final date with defending champions Spain.

Ronaldo helped to guide his club side Real Madrid to the Spanish La Liga title last season, but he now faces the task of knocking his Spanish colleagues out of the tournament as they bid for a place in the Euro 2012 final.

Costa believes Ronaldo has found form at just the right time.

“He is at the zenith of his career, he is the complete player. There is no point looking for adjectives to qualify his qualities. He is an excellent player and an excellent friend,” said Costa, who will compete with Ronaldo’s Real Madrid clubmate Pepe for a place in the semi-final starting line-up.

“Pepe has had an excellent season and has helped us a lot. When people say he is one of the best I agree.”

Costa, who had to step in during training to keep the peace betwen two team-mates Ricardo Quaresma and Miguel Lopes, said he was not bothered about facing Spain in the next round.

“It’s all the same to me. The important thing is to be ready,” he said. “The key thing for is our own state of mind. The only way of looking at this semi-final is to prepare for it well and to analyse the opposing team, as we know it will be a difficult game. We have to do our homework well.

“Spain are a very powerful team, they are based on Barcelona in their style of play, with a lot of passes and ball possession.

“It is not very direct football and currently they are playing without a striker and some say they are struggling a bit with their tactics, I hope they keep on struggling.”

And he is confident that should they manage to get past their Iberian neighbours and end up facing Germany in the final, that they can beat their Group B victors this time around.

Costa hit the bar twice in the second half of a closely-fought 1-0 group-stage defeat by the Germans.

An exhilarating 4-2 win over Greece on Friday cemented Joachim Loew’s side’s status as tournament favourites along with defending champions Spain.

“When it comes to a possible final match against Germany, we are a different squad now,” Costa declared. “I think that in the second half we proved that we can beat the Germans and I think the result wasn’t fair in the end.

“But let’s not speak too much about Germany because we don’t know if they’ll get to the final and we don’t know if we get to the final, so let’s just see what happens.

“Winning is all we dream about it. Nothing is easy and to be champions we will have to suffer.

“It will not be easy but we know we have quality and can get there.”