Match report
Portugal overturn early deficit to sink Denmark 4-2 in Nations League thriller
Portugal beat Denmark 4-2 at Parken Stadium in a UEFA Nations League League A Group 4 fixture that produced six goals and plenty of twists. The result lifted Jorge Jesus's side top of the group, while B. Riemer's Denmark remained second despite a spirited response at home.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
João Cancelo put the visitors ahead in the 13th minute, finishing an assist from Gonçalo Ramos, before Mikkel Damsgaard levelled for Denmark ten minutes later with Joakim Mæhle teeing him up. Ramos restored Portugal's lead in the 25th minute, converting a Bruno Fernandes pass to make it 2-1, and the sides went in with Portugal ahead 1-2 at half-time.
Denmark came out fighting after the break, with Rasmus Højlund drawing them level at 2-2 in the 53rd minute from a Damsgaard assist. But Portugal regained control through Vitinha, who struck in the 67th minute off another Fernandes assist, and João Félix added a fourth in the 87th minute, set up by Diogo Dalot, to settle the contest at 4-2.
Portugal dominated the attacking statistics despite Denmark holding more of the ball, with the visitors registering 19 shots to the hosts' 12 and landing ten on target compared with Denmark's three.
Gonçalo Ramos scored once and set up Cancelo's opener, finishing with a rating of 8.76 as Portugal's top performer, while Bruno Fernandes contributed two assists in a leading supporting role.
Denmark held 54% of possession, yet it was Portugal who translated their share of the ball into far greater attacking threat.
Portugal won 4–2 away against Denmark (half-time 1–2).
Denmark met Portugal in the UEFA Nations League (League A - 3). Kick-off was Thursday, 1 October 2026, 18:45 UTC at Parken Stadium. Referee: Mykola Balakin.
Team pages: Denmark · Portugal · UEFA Nations League
Key moments
- 13' Goal: João Cancelo (assist: Gonçalo Ramos) — 0–1 · Watch João Cancelo's goal video (13')
- 23' Goal: Mikkel Damsgaard (assist: Joakim Mæhle) — 1–1 · Watch Mikkel Damsgaard's goal video (23')
- 25' Goal: Gonçalo Ramos (assist: Bruno Fernandes) — 1–2 · Watch Gonçalo Ramos's goal video (25')
- 53' Goal: Rasmus Højlund (assist: Mikkel Damsgaard) — 2–2 · Watch Rasmus Højlund's goal video (53')
- 67' Goal: Vitinha (assist: Bruno Fernandes) — 2–3 · Watch Vitinha's goal video (67')
- 87' Goal: João Félix (assist: Diogo Dalot) — 2–4 · Watch João Félix's goal video (87')
Starting line-ups
Denmark (4-2-3-1)
Portugal (4-2-3-1)
- 1 Diogo Costa
- 19 Nuno Mendes
- 13 Renato Veiga
- 3 Rúben Dias
- 20 João Cancelo
- 23 Vitinha
- 21 Rúben Neves
- 7 Rafael Leão
- 8 Bruno Fernandes (c)
- 18 Pedro Neto
- 9 Gonçalo Ramos
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Denmark 25%, the draw 23%, Portugal 52%. It finished Denmark 2–4 Portugal.
Portugal's rating gap outweighs Denmark's home ground — Portugal are clearly the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of Portugal's 52%. The draw at 23% is held down by a high-scoring environment.
Why Portugal at 52%?
Portugal sit 163 points higher on our strength rating — 1821 to 1984. Sides with a 160–240-point rating edge on the road won 50.6% of 6,697 such games. The 300 most similar past games finished 29–22–49.
Why only 52%?
No scored evidence points the other way. 52% is what this rating gap has been worth in games like these; the rest is the draw at 23% and Denmark at 25%.
Why is the draw only 23%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 25.1%. These teams' recent games average 3.4 goals — a high-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 23.2% of 16,776. The goals environment takes 2.2 points off the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
Portugal are 2 games into a new manager (Jorge Jesus), appointed 30 days ago. The famous new-manager bounce doesn't survive its receipt: sides with a new manager beat their rating by 0.9 points over 33,420 games — but sides on an equally bad run who kept their manager beat it by 2.4 over 31,777. Denmark (14 fully-tracked matches with us) and Portugal (18) carry strength ratings anchored to the official international ratings list, so the class read stands on far more than our own short records. National sides play too few games for a record built from scratch, so their rating chain starts from the published international ratings instead of a blind first guess.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Denmark vs Portugal final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this UEFA Nations League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch João Cancelo's goal against Denmark (13').
- Watch Mikkel Damsgaard's goal against Portugal (23').
- Watch Gonçalo Ramos's goal against Denmark (25').
- Watch Rasmus Højlund's goal against Portugal (53').
- Watch Vitinha's goal against Denmark (67').
- Watch João Félix's goal against Denmark (87').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Denmark 2–4 Portugal. Explore more on the Denmark and Portugal team pages or the UEFA Nations League page.