Ronaldo stormed off the pitch and
straight down the tunnel after the 1-0 defeat against Germany in
Portugal's opening Euro 2012 match on Saturday. The Real Madrid star had
a frustrating 90 minutes against Joachim Loew's side, having spent most
of the game out on the wing and starved of possession.
Ronaldo was Portugal's top scorer in
qualifying for the Euro 2012 finals, with seven goals in eight games,
and is his country's third-highest all-time scorer with 32 goals in 87
appearances.
After the Germany match, Ronaldo
bemoaned Portugal's luck but remained optimistic his side can bounce
back from that early defeat.
He said: "In the second half they had
virtually one chance, and we hit the bar twice and had some big
opportunities. (There was) a lot of bad luck and a lot of frustration
because we knew we deserved more - a win or a draw.
"We have been playing well for several
games and just haven't had the luck with our finishing. It's not due to
efficiency; I think the main reason has been a lack of luck. Anyone who
watched the match will have seen that we were better than Germany, and
the chances speak for themselves. But now we have to pick ourselves up
and continue.
"We have to take as an example 2004, when we also started with a defeat, but then reached the final."
Denmark, who were shock winners of the
1992 European Championship, caused another big upset on Saturday when
Michael Krohn-Dehli's first-half strike secured a 1-0 win over the
Netherlands. The Dutch, who were rated one of the pre-tournament
favourites, wasted a hatful of chances as big-name strikers Robin van
Persie and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar failed to deliver in front of goal.
Despite their victory, Denmark coach
Morten Olsen insists his side could have played better against the
Oranje and called for improvements against Portugal.
"If you have to beat a team like that
- and the teams we still have to play - you have to play well but also
have to be lucky," Olsen said after the Netherlands match. "We had other
chances and the combination play was how we like to play and sometimes
we found room.
"We could have played better, though,
and we lost the ball sometimes in midfield - sometimes we played the
final pass too quickly. They are things we have to do better against
Portugal."
Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner,
meanwhile, has played down his side's hopes to reach the quarterfinals
and insists the Danes remain the Group B outsiders.
"I think people still look at us and
think we're the team that is not going to go through," he said. "We
don't take anything for granted and think now we're fantastic and we can
do everything. We still focus on the next game.
"We are very pleased to get the win
(against the Netherlands)," Bendtner said. "Under the circumstances, it
was a good win. And now we have to focus on the next two games because
it's important that we follow this good result up, and don't let it slip
away."
Denmark and Portugal were in the same
qualifying group for the Euro 2012 finals. The Portuguese won their
home match 3-1, while the Danes won 2-1 in Copenhagen. Denmark topped
the group, forcing Portugal to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina in a play-off to
reach the finals. They did it in style, winning 6-2 on aggregate.
The final Group B matches take place
on Sunday, with Denmark playing Germany in Lviv and Portugal facing the
Netherlands in Kharkiv.
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