Denmark 2-4 Portugal: Jesus’ men put Ronaldo drama to one side with superb win

Portugal produced another excellent away performance without their record goalscorer.

Nicholas McGee

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25 minutes ago • 3 min read

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Denmark 2-4 Portugal: Jesus’ men put Ronaldo drama to one side with superb win

UEFA Nations League, League A – 3

Denmark DEN

2 – 4

Full Time

Portugal POR

: Parken Stadium
: Mikola Balakin

Mikkel Damsgaard 23′ Rasmus Hojlund 53′

João Cancelo 13′ Gonçalo Ramos 25′ Vitinha 67′ Joao Felix 87′

Portugal were unaffected by the drama surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo as they produced an excellent attacking performance to maintain their 100 per cent start to the UEFA Nations League with a 4-2 away win over Denmark.

Ronaldo sensationally left the squad this week after a fall out with coach Jorge Jesus, seemingly bringing an end to his storied international career.

The drama around Portugal’s record goalscorer understandably overshadowed the build-up to the game with Denmark at Parken, but it had no impact on their performance, which served as another illustration of how well they can play without him.

Having beaten Norway 2-1 with Ronaldo left on the bench, Portugal took the lead in the 13th minute through Joao Cancelo.

Mikkel Damsgaard equalised in sublime fashion 10 minutes later, only for Goncalo Ramos to give Portugal the lead again soon after.

Ramus Hojlund drew Denmark level for the second time eight minutes into the second half, but Vitinha’s first goal for Portugal restored an advantage that was doubled late on by Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr team-mate Joao Felix.

The defending Nations League champions now hold a six-point lead at the top of Group 4 in League A.

Portugal purr without Ronaldo

Ramos went close to breaking the deadlock as his snap shot hit the post, but he instead laid on the assist moments later, his return ball collected by Barcelona full-back Cancelo, whose lofted finish over Mads Hermansen belied his position as a defender.

Rafael Leao was subsequently denied by Hermansen and then saw an effort from point-blank range deflected wide.

Denmark made sure his profligacy was punished as Damsgaard bent into the far corner to restore parity that proved short-lived.

Indeed, a superb one-two with Bruno Fernandes sent Ramos through on goal, and the AC Milan striker made no mistake with a calm low finish.

Portugal celebrate Joao Cancelo's opening goal against Denmark in the UEFA Nations League.

Only a reflex save by Hermansen with his legs prevented Ramos from making it 3-1 shortly before half-time following good work from Leao.

But Denmark squared the game up again in superb fashion with a move that started deep inside their own half.

Damsgaard found Hojlund with an outstanding pass, and the Napoli forward kept his nerve to casually dink the ball over Diogo Costa.

Ramos then fired over from a clever Fernandes pass, before Ruben Neves was denied at the near post by Hermansen.

Yet Fernandes found reward for another excellent ball into the box as Vitinha timed his run to perfection, meeting the delivery with a fine header into the bottom corner to get off the mark for his country and put Portugal ahead for a third time.

The finishing touch was applied in the 87th minute, Felix scoring for the third game in a row for his country with a deflected strike from Diogo Dalot’s lay-off after a wonderfully crafted Portugal break.