Denmark v Portugal background
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Article summary
Past UEFA European Championship encounters in Sheffield and Lviv may spring to mind as Denmark come up against Portugal in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group I.
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Article body
Memories of a topsy-turvy encounter in Ukraine at UEFA EURO 2012 are sure to flood back as Denmark and Portugal meet for a 14th time in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group I.
Match background
• Denmark's 13 official encounters with Portugal have ended W3 D2 L8 (W2 D1 L3 at home, W1 D0 L4 in Portugal). Those games include encounters at both EURO '96 and UEFA EURO 2012 – a draw and a Portuguese win respectively.
• Having traded home wins in qualifying, Denmark and Portugal met in their second group stage game at UEFA EURO 2012: Pepe (24) and Hélder Postiga (36) put Portugal 2-0 up, but Nicklas Bendtner (41 and 80) struck twice to seemingly salvage a point for Morten Olsen's men, only for substitute Silvestre Varela (87) to head a late winner for Paulo Bento's side.
• The lineups for that match at 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).
• The sides' met in their first match at EURO '96 with Richard Møller-Nielsen's Denmark – then reigning European champions – taking the lead through Brian Laudrup (22) before Sá Pinto (53) headed António Oliveira's Portugal level.
• The teams for that game at Hillsborough, Sheffield, on 9 June 1996 were:
Denmark: Schmeichel, Helveg, Rieper, Høgh, Nielsen, Thomsen (Piechnik 83), Beck, Michael Laudrup, Brian Laudrup, Larsen (Vilfort 90), Risager.
Portugal: Vítor Baía, Paulinho Santos, Oceano (Folha 37), Fernando Couto, João Pinto, Sá Pinto, Rui Costa, Dimas, Hélder, Paulo Sousa (Tavares 79), Luís Figo (Domingos 62).
• Denmark coach Morten Olsen featured as a player when his side lost 5-0 to Portugal in Porto on 12 May 1971 in a UEFA European Championship qualifier.
• Danish and Portuguese men's sides have met 12 times at age-group levels in UEFA competitions – with their Under-15s scheduled to meet on 17 November. Denmark's record in those matches is W1 D2 L9, that sole victory coming in the defunct UEFA European Under-23 Championship on 15 December 1971.
• Danish and Portuguese clubs have met in 39 UEFA club competition matches. The Danish clubs have the record W5 D7 L27 (W2 D6 L11 at home, W3 D1 L16 in Portugal).
