António Oliveira and his Portugal stars took early control of their Euro 96 qualifying group and never looked back. During the 1995 calendar year, group minnows like Latvia and Liechtenstein were comfortably beaten thanks to the attacking quality of players such as Figo, Rui Costa, Domingos, Cadete and Paulo Alves, although draws with Austria and Northern Ireland allowed the Republic of Ireland to close the gap.

The two sides met in Lisbon in November that year, where Portugal scored three unanswered second-half goals to comfortably secure top spot and qualification for the tournament in England the following year.