{"id":17899,"date":"2026-11-14T22:15:47","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T22:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/14\/denmark-thrash-portugal-4-1-in-first-game-after-ronaldos-retirement\/"},"modified":"2026-11-14T22:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T22:15:47","slug":"denmark-thrash-portugal-4-1-in-first-game-after-ronaldos-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/14\/denmark-thrash-portugal-4-1-in-first-game-after-ronaldos-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Denmark thrash Portugal 4-1 in first game after Ronaldo\u2019s retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"63.186137506987\">\n<p>Portugal began life without Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday, suffering a 4-1 home defeat to Denmark in the UEFA Nations League at Est\u00e1dio Municipal de Braga.\n<\/p>\n<p>The result marked the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o\u2019s first match since the 41-year-old\u2019s international retirement earlier this month, ending a 23-year career that produced a world-record 234 caps and 146 goals.\n<\/p>\n<p>Before kick-off, Portugal paid tribute to their former captain.\n<\/p>\n<p>Players took to the field in shirts bearing Ronaldo\u2019s iconic No. 7, the crowd rose for a standing ovation around the seventh minute, and stadium screens displayed a message reading \u201cObrigado, capit\u00e3o\u201d (Thank you, captain).<\/p>\n<p>The homage quickly turned sour. Denmark took the lead in the 43rd minute when Pierre-Emile H\u00f8jbjerg converted a penalty after R\u00faben Dias handled a Rasmus H\u00f8jlund header. H\u00f8jlund then scored twice in the second half, in the 50th and 57th minutes, before Joachim Andersen headed home a fourth in the 75th minute. <\/p>\n<div class=\"read-also\">\n<header>Related News<\/header>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Bernardo Silva pulled one back for Portugal in stoppage time, but it proved scant consolation.\n<\/p>\n<p>Portugal Coach Jorge Jesus fielded a new-look side featuring debutant Alberto Costa at right-back, Vitinha and R\u00faben Neves in central midfield, and Gon\u00e7alo Ramos as the central striker, supported by Pedro Neto, Bruno Fernandes and Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix.<\/p>\n<p>Portugal had entered the match with a strong record in the Nations League group but looked disjointed and unable to respond once Denmark took control.\n<\/p>\n<p>The defeat leaves them needing a result against Wales in their final group game to secure top spot.\n                    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"13.525423728814\">\n                                                                <b><a href=\"https:\/\/punchng.com\/author\/gekugbe\">Gilbert Ekugbe<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Gilbert Ekugbe is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with over a decade of experience reporting on business and economic affairs. He covers markets, corporate developments, finance, and Nigeria\u2019s broader economic landscape. His reporting is informed by extensive newsroom experience and a strong commitment to accuracy and responsible journalism, helping readers understand complex business issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"14.852589641434\">\n<p> All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contact\">Contact: <a href=\"\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#bbcfd3dededfd2cfd4c9fbcbced5d8d3d5dc95d8d4d6\"> <span class=\"__cf_email__\" data-cfemail=\"186c707d7d7c716c776a58686d767b70767f367b7775\">[email\u00a0protected]<\/span> <\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<div class=\"nSourse\">Punch Newspapers &#8211; Latest News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Portugal began life without Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday, suffering a 4-1 home defeat to Denmark in the UEFA Nations League at Est\u00e1dio Municipal de Braga. The result marked the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o\u2019s&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}