Portugal v Denmark background
Thursday, September 3, 2015
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Portugal will clinch their finals place if they avoid defeat against Denmark in Group I – and will be section winners with a three-point haul at the expense of their closest challengers.
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Portugal will rubber-stamp their UEFA EURO 2016 place if they avoid defeat against Denmark in Group I – and the leaders will be confirmed as section winners if they take all three points in Braga on 8 October.
• Albania and Portugal have an identical head-to-head record in the event that the two sides finish level on points.
• This is second-placed Denmark's final qualifier; they will be sure of a top-two finish if they win and nearest rivals Albania drop points at home to Serbia.
Previous meetings
• Cristiano Ronaldo scored Portugal's winner five minutes into added time as Denmark lost 1-0 in Copenhagen last October, in the teams' first Group I meeting.
• The lineups for the latter match at the Arena Lviv on 13 June 2012 were:
Denmark: Andersen, Kjær, Agger, Simon Poulsen, Jacobsen, Kvist, Eriksen, Krohn-Dehli (Schöne 90+2), Rommedahl (Mikkelsen 60), Bendtner, Zimling (Jakob Poulsen 16).
Portugal: Rui Patrício, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Miguel Veloso, Fábio Coentrão, Cristiano Ronaldo, João Moutinho, Raul Meireles (Silvestre Varela 84), Nani (Rolando 89), João Pereira, Hélder Postiga (Nélson Oliveira 64).
Form guide
• Portugal's 1-0 home reverse to Albania at the start of this Group I campaign remains their sole defeat in their last 19 home qualifying games (W13 D5 L1), since a 3-2 loss to Denmark in September 2008.
• Portugal have won their last five Group I fixtures since succumbing to the now-third-placed Albania in Aveiro.
• Denmark are unbeaten in their last four qualifiers and have not conceded in their last three. However, both of their September assignments ended in 0-0 draws.
Disciplinary
• Tiago is available again after a one-match ban; Nani's next yellow card will trigger a suspension.
• Lars Jacobsen, Simon Kjær and William Kvist will incur a suspension with their next yellow cards.
Trivia and links
• Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo is the all-time top scorer in UEFA European Championship matches with 26 goals.
• Denmark coach Morten Olsen – who will retire at the end of this UEFA EURO 2016 campaign – featured as a player when his country lost 5-0 to Portugal in Porto on 12 May 1971 in a UEFA European Championship qualifier.
• Danish and Portuguese national sides have met 13 times at age-group levels in UEFA competitions, with Portugal's record W10 D2 L1. Denmark's sole victory came in the defunct UEFA European Under-23 Championship on 15 December 1971.
• Danish and Portuguese clubs have met in 39 UEFA competition games, with the Danish clubs' record W5 D7 L27 (W2 D6 L11 at home, W3 D1 L16 in Portugal).