The Portugal national football team without Ronaldo is not a sentence many people expected to write about a competitive match, let alone a winning one. But on Thursday night in Copenhagen, with the sport’s most prolific international scorer gone from the camp, Jorge Jesus’s side beat Denmark 4-2 in the UEFA Nations League. Portugal produced an impressive attacking display to defeat Denmark 4-2 in their League A encounter on Thursday, October 1.
The win was Jesus’s third in a row as Portugal coach. It also came in the middle of the biggest off-field storm around the national team in years.
How Ronaldo ended up missing the Denmark game
The build-up was messy. Ronaldo left the training camp on Wednesday after a conversation with the Portuguese Football Federation president, following the coach’s press conference. Jesus had told reporters that the 41-year-old would not start against Denmark.
That was not the first sign of friction. Ronaldo had spent all of Sunday’s 2-1 win in Norway on the bench, having captained the side in the 1-0 home win over Wales the previous Thursday. Within a week, the captain had gone from leading the team out to leaving the camp.
Ronaldo addressed it on Instagram, saying that he would tell the Portuguese people the truth about his reasons “in due course”. Jesus kept his answer short. He said there would be time to talk about the situation after the match. Reports have also played down talk of a feud, with the coach denying rumours of a fallout.
A six-goal night at Parken
The game itself did not feel like a team in crisis.
João Cancelo opened the scoring in the 13th minute, lifting the ball over goalkeeper Mads Hermansen after finding space in the box. Denmark answered quickly. Mikkel Damsgaard curled a goal into the far corner from the left of the box in the 23rd minute.
The home side did not stay level for long. Gonçalo Ramos scored two minutes later to put Portugal back ahead 2-1. Ramos was leading the line in Ronaldo’s absence, and the move that created his goal was one of the best of the night.
Denmark were not finished. Rasmus Højlund lifted the ball over Diogo Costa in the 53rd minute to make it 2-2. For a spell after the break, the match looked like it could swing either way.
It did not. Vitinha nodded Portugal back in front in the 57th minute, and substitute João Félix eased the visitors to victory late on. The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder’s header was the goal that broke Danish resistance, and Félix’s late finish settled it.
The numbers behind the result
This was not a smash-and-grab. Portugal were the better side over the 90 minutes, even if Denmark twice dragged them back to level terms.
| Stat | Portugal | Denmark |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | 4 | 2 |
| Shots | 19 | 12 |
Shot figures from beIN Sports. Their data put the expected goals at 2.74 for Portugal against 0.67 for Denmark, while another count had it at 2.25 to 0.76. The models differ, but both show a clear Portuguese advantage.
There was also a historical footnote. One report pointed out that it was the first time in 18 years Portugal had scored four goals away from home without Ronaldo, the last being against Malta in September 2008.
Who stepped up
With Ronaldo gone, the famous shirt had to go somewhere. The number 7 jersey went to Rafael Leão. He did not score, but he troubled Hermansen early and kept Denmark’s defenders busy. sbs
Ramos was the other big story. He was the focal point of the attack, and he looked comfortable in it. Cancelo, Vitinha and Félix all added goals, which spread the scoring across defence, midfield and the bench. That depth is the point many Portugal supporters have made for a while: the team has a lot of attacking options.
Vitinha himself said the performance was a “step forward” in Portugal’s attacking play, and he gave the credit to the coach. He also said the squad had tried to shut out the noise around Ronaldo’s exit.
Is Portugal better without Ronaldo?
That is the question the result has reopened, and it deserves a careful answer. One analysis argued that on this evidence, Portugal may be better off without Ronaldo in the lineup, pointing to the fluid combinations behind the first two goals.
There is a case against that view too. One night in Copenhagen is a small sample. Ronaldo is still the all-time leading men’s international goalscorer, and his record for Portugal is not in doubt. Even before this episode, there were suggestions that the team scores freely in his absence. A report from late 2025 noted that Portugal had scored 24 goals in the six matches Ronaldo had missed.
What the Denmark game does show is that Jesus has a functioning, balanced attack. He is not leaning on one player to carry it.
The big unknown is Ronaldo. Reports suggest he could stay away from the team, with some claiming he has decided to leave for good. Nothing has been confirmed, and he has promised to explain himself publicly.
For now, Portugal have three wins from three under Jesus and a lot of momentum in League A Group 4. How the coach and his former captain resolve their dispute will shape the rest of the campaign. If Portugal keep playing like they did in Copenhagen, the debate about life without Ronaldo is only going to get louder.
