Martínez admits Portugal has “a lot to improve on”

Portugal coach Roberto Martinez admitted today that his side “need to improve a lot” if they are to beat Denmark in the second leg of their Nations League quarter-final on Sunday, but played down the criticism they received after the defeat in Copenhagen.

“I’ll be very honest, I don’t watch or read anything. Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing my job properly. I’m going to do everything I can to achieve my goal. The attitude and commitment in this team is the best. My demands are at home, not abroad. We’ve shown in the last 27 games that we’re improving. The goal is to qualify for the last four,” said Roberto Martinez.

The Portuguese coach was speaking to journalists at the Cidade de Futebol in Oeiras at a press conference ahead of Sunday’s clash with Denmark at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon.

In the first match in Copenhagen, Portugal lost 1-0, with Roberto Martinez admitting that it was the team’s worst game since he took over at the beginning of 2023.

“It was a bad performance in Denmark, but now we are playing at home. We have to evaluate what we are doing. We are playing at home, with a full Alvalade to support us. In Denmark we didn’t show our identity, we didn’t have the same intensity as the other team. So we have to improve a lot. Not to change everything, but to make some adjustments,” he said.

With the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, Pedro Proença, also present at the press conference, Martínez reflected on what he has already achieved with the Portuguese national team and argued that the balance should be good in the 27 matches he has already played, not just in one.

“We want perfection, but football is not about that. In qualifying for Euro 2024, we won 10 games. That was historic. In the European Championship, our best game was against France, but in the end we did not go through. In the Nations League, we finished top of our group ahead of Croatia, who have now beaten France,” he said.

The Spanish coach also revealed that Bernardo Silva, who came on as a substitute in the first leg, will start in Alvalade and win his 100th cap, becoming only the eighth player in the history of the national team to do so.

Portugal-Denmark is scheduled for 1:15 AM on Monday (IST) at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon and will be officiated by Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic, who won the inaugural edition of the Nations League in 2019 before failing to qualify for the final four in 2020/21 and 2022/23.

On Sunday, Portugal will not only find out their future in the Nations League, but also the group in which they will play in the qualifying phase for the next World Cup, which will take place in September, October and November this year.