Portugal’s perfect record in the Nations League came to an end in horrifying fashion at Estádio Municipal de Braga where they were thrashed 4-1 by Denmark.
The Danes began brightest but had to wait until the 43rd minute to break the deadlock, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg burying a penalty after Rúben Dias had handled the ball.
Rasmus Hojlund scored two goals in seven minutes as Portugal’s defence was carved up time and time again. Further damage was inflicted in the 75th minute when Joachim Andersen headed Mathias Jensen’s free kick into the net.
Bernardo Silva came off the bench to score a late consolation but there was no sugar coating the slaughter, the Seleção humbled in their first match since Cristiano Ronaldo’s international retirement.
Danes start strong
Denmark had a bright start in Braga, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s shot deflected over the bar and Rasmus Hojlund’s effort deflected wide. Gustav Isaksen was seeing plenty of the ball down the right wing.
Vitinha pounced on a poor pass from Mads Hermansen but could only hit a tame effort back to the goalkeeper.
A loose touch from Rúben Neves saw Mohammed Daramy charge into the box where Rúben Dias made a solid challenge. Alberto Costa went on a long run that created a half chance but the debutant was caught out in defence, Daramy surging past him and into the box where he lost possession.
Denmark continued to look most likely to break the deadlock, a quick free kick seeing Alexander Bah get behind Portugal’s defence before a heavy touch took the defender too far away from goal.
Brief respite
The Seleção finally began to get a foothold in the match, João Félix’s shot blocked by Oliver Provstgaard before the forward went close to getting on the end of a scramble in the box.
Diogo Dalot was getting involved but none of his deliveries were finding their mark.
Denmark take the lead
The visitors got back on top with Rasmus Hojlund’s goal ruled out. The striker then saw his header deflected straight to Diogo Costa but that wasn’t the end of the story.
The VAR got involved which saw Rade Obrenovic watch replays where he saw Hojlund’s header hit Dias’ hand. The referee awarded a penalty and Hojbjerg made no mistake, slamming the ball into the back of the net.
Seleção second best
The half-time break did nothing to change the momentum and Denmark doubled their advantage in the 50th minute. Mikkel Damsgaard’s clever cross caught Portugal’s defence napping once again, Hojlund left completely unmarked at the back post where he volleyed into the net.
Another cross into the box found Joakim Maehle who had ghosted past Alberto Costa, but he somehow decided not to shoot with only Diogo Costa to beat.
Alberto Costa produced a clever back heel at the opposite end which resulted in a cross from Félix. Rúben Neves’ long range strike stung Hermansen’s hands, but it was abundantly clear that it was not going to be Portugal’s evening.
Denmark made it 3-0 in the 57th minute. Hojbjerg played a simple ball to Hojlund who had four Portuguese players surrounding him, the striker simply taking the ball inside Renato Veiga and firing a low drive into the bottom corner.
The Danes continued to make Portugal look ordinary and Jorge Jesus had seen enough, the manager introducing João Palhinha, Francisco Trincão and Carlos Forbs for Neves, Pedro Neto and Félix.
Trincão volleyed Vitinha’s pass over the bar before Brian Riemer countered with two changes of his own, Mikkel Damsgaard and Gustav Isaksen making way for Mathias Jensen and Andreas Skov Olsen. He then brought on Victor Froholdt and William Osula for Daramy and Hojlund.
Absent defence
The home crowd were shocked even further in the 75th minute when Denmark scored again. Veiga needlessly took out Osula near the touchline, Jensen sending the free kick into the box where Veiga was too slow to react, Joachim Andersen left free to head the ball into the top corner.
There was a brief chant for Cristiano Ronaldo before Bruno Fernandes tested Hermansen and Trincão narrowly missed the target. Fernandes immediately made way for Bernardo Silva as the seats began to become empty, Silva sending Dalot’s cross over the bar before Vitinha was replaced by João Neves.
Denmark went close to making it 5-0 but Jensen headed Froholdt’s cross wide and Osula saw his shot blocked.
Silva scored a late consolation with the last kick of the game but there were few, if any in the crowd celebrating.
How did this happen?
Few would have seen this result coming, Silva’s goal making sure Portugal avoided replicating their previous 4-0 defeat, against Germany at the 2014 World Cup.
Regardless, it was Portugal’s worst ever home defeat in a competitive match. They hadn’t conceded four goals at home since a 4-4 draw against Cyprus in a European Championship qualifier in 2010 and the Seleção hadn’t lost by 3 or more goals since 2018.
There will be plenty of people making a connection with the poor performance and Cristiano Ronaldo’s international retirement. Perhaps it affected the players, but he had already abandoned them after the match in Norway.
Jorge Jesus had won four straight matches since replacing Roberto Martinez but his team have hardly been solid at the back. Wales could have easily left Lisbon with a 1-1 draw, Norway were unlucky to go down 2-1 in Oslo and Denmark scored twice in Copenhagen.
Portugal did well defensively in the 2-1 win against Norway but Erling Haaland was playing on one leg in Porto.
Alberto Costa had a tough time in his debut for Portugal’s senior side (Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)
The absences of João Cancelo and Nuno Mendes were felt dearly and we don’t know if Nuno Tavares would have made any difference. With Nélson Semedo and Matheus Nunes not called up since the World Cup, Diogo Dalot played at left-back and Alberto Costa made his debut on the opposite flank, Flávio Nazinho an unused substitute.
Costa is a solid player but a long way from international level. In some ways he was hung out to dry, clearly targeted but not helped and frequently resembling a fish out of water on the defensive end.
Renato Veiga had a shocker but he wasn’t the only one. The Portuguese analysts will be busy going through the replay and will need to work overtime to figure out how things fell apart so often and so badly.
Portugal had already secured a spot in the quarter-finals but it’s unlikely that complacency was a factor in the performance. The attention now turns to the final group game in Wales on Tuesday.
Jesus reacts
There was almost universal approval when Jesus was given the job, but the nature of this defeat and the correlation with Ronaldo’s retirement is sure get plenty of attention.
The 72-year-old tried to explain what happened in Braga: “We weren’t as strong a team collectively as we were in Denmark, defensively we couldn’t stop Denmark’s attacking play, especially in the second half. When I thought the team could be better, it didn’t manage to, against a team with more quality.”
“The second striker today (João Félix) couldn’t play between the lines and we couldn’t gain an advantage in the central corridor, Denmark had the advantage and surprised us. If we were sure of qualifying, I would play with other players in Cardiff, but the important thing is to secure qualification.”
“In the first four games we worked with both of them (João Cancelo and Nuno Mendes), but they weren’t here, new players came in. When you lose, we all lose, we made some specific mistakes, the errors were more collective than individual.
“When you lose it’s never good, it always affects the player’s emotions, the team came in super confident, but today you have to give credit to Denmark.”
The manager addressed the Ronaldo question: “One thing has nothing to do with the other. People miss him, they haven’t forgotten what Cristiano did for 23 years with the national team. There’s no going back.”
“Nobody is happy, and we weren’t prepared to lose 4-1 today either. Missing Cristiano how? If he’s no longer in the national team?… He doesn’t play anymore, he’s not here, he’s already decided his situation.”
Lineups
Portugal (4-4-1-1): Diogo Costa; Alberto Costa, Rúben Dias, Renato Veiga, Diogo Dalot; Pedro Neto (Carlos Forbs 64’), Vitinha (João Neves 83’), Rúben Neves (João Palhinha 64’), Bruno Fernandes (Bernardo Silva 79’); João Félix (Francisco Trincão 64’); Gonçalo Ramos
Unused subs: Rui Silva, Samuel Soares, Flávio Nazinho, António Silva, Rodrigo Mora, Geovany Quenda, Fábio Silva
Manager: Jorge Jesus
Denmark (4-2-3-1): Mads Hermansen; Alexander Bah, Joachim Andersen (Victor Nelsson 82’), Oliver Provstgaard, Joakim Maehle; Morten Hjulmand, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg; Gustav Isaksen (Andreas Skov Olsen 66’), Mikkel Damsgaard (Mathias Jensen 66’), Mohammed Daramy (Victor Froholdt 73’); Rasmus Hojlund (Will Osula 73’)
Unused subs: Andreas Jungdal, Filip Jorgensen, Rasmus Nicolaisen, Rasmus Kristensen, Victor Bak Jensen, Mads Bidstrup, Jesper Lindstrom, Albert Gronbaek
Manager: Brian Riemer
Goals:
[0-1] Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg 43′ (P)
[0-2] Rasmus Hojlund 50′
[0-3] Rasmus Hojlund 57′
[0-4] Joachim Andersen 75′
[1-4] Bernardo Silva 90+3′