Ronaldo walked out on Wednesday, and Portugal scored four without him in Copenhagen
Gonçalo Ramos set up one goal and scored another as Portugal beat Denmark 4-2 at Parken to make it three Nations League wins from three.
Oct 2, 2026
Portugal played their first game since Cristiano Ronaldo walked out of the camp, and they scored four at Parken. João Cancelo, Gonçalo Ramos, Vitinha and João Félix got the goals in a 4-2 win over Denmark in Copenhagen on Thursday night, 1 October. Portugal have now won all three of their Nations League games.
Denmark equalised twice and were still level after 53 minutes. They did not get close again after that.
Ramos did the job he was picked for
Ramos was the man in Ronaldo’s place, and that choice is where all of this started. Jesus picked him over Ronaldo in Oslo on 27 September, and Ronaldo left the camp on Wednesday, the day Jesus told a press conference he would not start in Copenhagen either.
Ramos was involved in the first two goals. He set up Cancelo, who finished with his right foot after 13 minutes. Mikkel Damsgaard curled one in from the right channel to make it 1-1 in the 23rd minute, and two minutes later Ramos had Portugal back in front, steering a low left-footed shot into the corner from Bruno Fernandes’ pass.
Rasmus Højlund made it 2-2 on a counter-attack eight minutes into the second half, with Damsgaard providing the pass. Then he did the “Siu”, Ronaldo’s own celebration, in front of the Parken crowd. Whatever he meant by it, it did not age well.
Bruno ran the second half
Fernandes put a free kick on Vitinha’s head at the near post in the 67th minute for 3-2. Diogo Dalot came off the bench after 63 minutes and set up Félix for the fourth with three minutes left.
The numbers are fairly one-sided. Denmark had 54% of the ball, but Portugal had 19 shots to 12 and 10 on target to three, according to Sofascore. Mads Hermansen made six saves in the Danish goal. Diogo Costa made one at the other end. Fernandes finished with two assists and five key passes, and nobody watching would have argued with his name at the top of the ratings.
What Jesus said, and what he didn’t
The press conference was mostly about the man who was not there. Jesus kept steering it back to the football. “The Portuguese national team put on a world-class performance today, right?” he said. “That is the most important thing to me right now.”
He also said the last few days “have not separated the group. And they will not separate us,” and that he would say more about Ronaldo once the international window is over.
The players backed him. “It’s the work of the coach. We played an excellent game,” Vitinha said. Ramos said the new manager was “a great help” and that the team had “clearer ideas”.
My read is that this result makes life harder for Ronaldo. Portugal had a reason to look unsettled in Copenhagen and instead produced their best attacking display of the campaign. The last time these teams met, in the Nations League quarter-finals in March 2025, Portugal needed extra time in Lisbon to get past Denmark. This time they did it away from home without their captain, and that is the comparison Jesus will be happy for people to make.
Where the group stands
Portugal have nine points from three games. Denmark, Norway and Wales are all on three, after Wales beat Norway 2-1 in Cardiff on the same night.
Portugal host Norway at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto on Sunday, 4 October (12:15am IST on Monday), and a win there would put them at least six points clear with two games left. Denmark go to Wales on the same day. Ronaldo has not said yet whether he will play for Portugal again.