Holland's attacking brilliance has illuminated Euro 2000, but tonight they will have to win a game by defending.

Frank Rijkaard's side blew Yugoslavia away with their sensational quarter-final display, but they know all too well that taking such an approach against Italy would be akin to a greedy insect straying too close to a venus fly-trap.

Like all their Azzurri predecessors, Dino Zoff's team are the masters of defend and counter-attack.

If the Dutch make one mistake in the Amsterdam Arena during this titanic semi-final, they run the risk of being caught out.

Rijkaard has stressed that message over the past four days and it has not been ignored by Manchester United's Jaap Stam.

The imposing centre half accepts his concentration levels must be higher than ever if he is to avoid falling foul of a sucker-punch delivered by Francesco Totti, Filippo Inzaghi or Alessandro Del Piero.

'I've played against Inzaghi and Del Piero for United and Totti has great skill as well,' said Stam. 'Inzaghi is like Ole Solskjaer for us at United.

'He always works very hard for the team.The way he plays is to run off the back of defenders and in behind them. He's always on the verge of being offside. Nine times out of 10 he will be offside but that one other time he'll be through and score.You have to be aware of that.'

Stam was able to stand back and admire his team-mates' vibrant approach play for much of the 6-1 rout of Yugoslavia in Rotterdam. Tonight, however, is the real thing.

'We're used to playing like this as a team,' he added.'We always want to attack but that means sometimes you get exposed and sometimes the other team gets chances. In football you have to defend, too.'

The Italians, with Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro in their back line, are past masters at soaking up pressure.

Even if the approach is out of keeping with an attack-minded tournament, they are in confident mood. This despite facing Patrick Kluivert, who has already scored five goals.

Italian skipper Paolo Maldini, a former AC Milan team-mate of the Barcelona striker, explained: 'The way to stop Kluivert is to make him feel your breath on the back of his neck and give him no space.

'He will become jumpy and irritable and make mistakes. That's how you stop Holland.'

Rijkaard will look to Bergkamp's creativity and the pace of Marc Overmars and Boudewijn Zenden out wide to dispose of Zoff's men.

The Dutch coach said: 'We've played well so far and I'd like us to play our own offensive game. But we know that Italy have a very tight defence and give very few chances away. They've also shown they can score at the right moment.

'These are the things we have to look at but we mustn't neglect our own game. We want to dominate and we will try to do that from the start.

'I respect the Italian mentality very much. I know that Arrigo Sacchi has criticised them because he prefers a more attacking style of football.

'But Zoff has done a very good job for them. He has won four matches in a row. His football is based on defence, but football is about different philosophies.

'There is more than one way to win a match.'

Certainly, Stam agrees that tonight is one occasion when the result will be of far more significance than the performance.

'We don't think about how we will be judged,' he said. 'It's nice to hear people saying you are one of the best sides but we are playing to win the tournament, not to be remembered as the best Dutch side.

'That comes with history. What matters most is that we win the games. Of course we want to do it with good football but if we can't do it like that, we'll have to work very hard for it.'

Probable Teams:

Holland (4-4-2): Van Der Sar; Bosvelt, Stam, F De Boer, Van Bronckhorst; Overmars, Davids, Cocu, Zenden; Bergkamp, Kluivert.

Portugal (3-4-1-2): Toldo; Cannavaro, Nesta, Iuliano; Zambrotta, Albertini, Di Biagio, Maldini; Fiore; Inzaghi, Totti.

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)