Portugal coach Paulo Bento and his players were unanimous in their belief that the Selecção put in a positive performance and deserved more than what they got in the Group B opener against Germany tonight. 


Paulo Bento, Portugal coach:
“It‘s tough to take this lost, especially given how the game went. We lost because we were not effective (in front of goal), not because we were inferior to Germany.

“Germany started more dominant, but we controlled matters from the defensive point of view, although we were not strong at launching attacks. We conceded from an unlucky situation. Pepe was well positioned but the ball took a deflection and fell to Mario Gomez, who took advantage.

“Afterwards we had a fantastic reaction and created enough situations to at least have drawn the game. We’re in a phase where we are playing well but we are not winning. We have character and personality, and we have to try and continue to work to earn our luck because it won’t appear if we don’t run.”

(On Denmark match) “We’re going to play against a team that has three points and is in a more comfortable position than us. We are under more pressure, but we’re used to that. We have to continue to strive to win and  play well. We‘ll be playing against a team that has beaten us twice, won once and lost just once recently.

“Denmark finished ahead of Portugal in qualifying for the World Cup and the European Championship. We have to get the three points because it’s the only way we can get to the last match still in the fight for our objective. I‘m not surprised at the Denmark result. Denmark was made out to be the ugly duckling of this group, but that‘s wrong. I believe things will be decided in the last round of matches.”


Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal captain:
“In the second half Germany only had one chance. We hit the woodwork twice and had clear chances. I’m very frustrated. We deserved more than this defeat - at least a draw. We‘ve been improving in our latest games but the goals haven’t been coming. It’s a question of bad luck.

“The team’s disappointed because of the result, but not the performance. Nothing is lost. In 2004 we started with a defeat, and we ended up in the final. If we continue to play like this we’ve got the chance of doing the same thing. I just spoke to José Mourinho; he’s also confident and gave us strength for the next games. I also spoke to Ozil, who said we would win our next games because we have a great team.”


Raul Meireles, Portugal midfielder:
“We did everything to get a different result. We showed determination, but football is like that. We leave here confident for our next match because we played a great game.”


Fábio Coentrão, Portugal left-back:
“We have to lift our heads because nothing is lost. It was an unjust result, and even if we had drawn I’d be standing here saying it was an unfair result. When you play well and you don’t achieve you aim it’s very disappointing, but we’ll respond well. I‘m optimistic for Wednesday. We continue to depend only on ourselves. If we win the next two games we‘re in the quarter-finals.”


Nélson Oliveira, Portugal striker:
“I think we played a great game, we were just lacking a touch of luck. We had several chances but we couldn’t score. We have to lift our heads. We lost but we played a great game.”


Silvestre Varela, Portugal winger:
“the team fought well and worked hard. We‘re confident we can turn this round. That miss? Everything happened quickly. I saw an open net and tried to hit the ball in but the goalkeeper made a great save. There’s nothing I can do about it now, it’s a question of moving on to the next game. It’s not a good result but it’s an unjust one.”

by Tom Kundert