Luiz Felipe Scolari tonight enjoys the perfect opportunity to study one of the players under his charge when he becomes Chelsea manager - and he's a fan already.

The knockout stage of Euro 2008 begins tonight with the first quarter-final on a relayed pitch in Basel. Portugal, who impressed with five goals in their opening two games before a much-changed side lost to Switzerland in an encounter of little importance, take on a Germany yet to find top gear.

Although the match is potentially Scolari's last as Portugal boss before he moves to Stamford Bridge, the bookmakers agree with Michael Ballack's assertion that Germany are underdogs. Paddy Power make Portugal 4/6 to qualify for the semi-final, the Germans are 11/10.

Scolari indicated in the build-up that he will field the same side who beat Turkey and Czech Republic in the first two games, which means starts for Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and José Bosingwa, and he will rely on them to help counter what he publicly declared was a major German threat - aerial superiority at set-pieces over Portugal's on-average smaller team.

The German captain's prowess when the ball is played high into the box is no secret across the globe and Scolari picked Ballack out for special comment.

'Ballack is an important player, a great player,' he said. 'He has a lot of technical qualities and is one of the great players in the tournament. Maybe he has hit peak form over the last two years.

'Ballack is excellent, one of the athletes who has been outstanding here along with four or five others. He deserves special attention and we'll have to be careful, but we can't just worry about Ballack. Today, one of the best full-backs is (Philipp) Lahm.'

Ballack may have a new partner in central midfield tonight depending on the fitness of Torsten Frings. Forward Lukas Podolski is another injury doubt. Bastian Schweinsteiger is back from suspension, replaced on the banned list by manager Joachim Löw.

Whoever is victorious, there will be a Chelsea presence in the semi-finals with tonight's winners taking on the side that emerges from Croatia v Turkey.

Mobile wallpapers of Chelsea's new manager are now available to download from Chelsea Mobile. Michael Ballack is 8/1 to score a penalty in the 90 minutes.