Olsen aggrieved after late loss

Denmark manager Morten Olsen said his side felt hard done by after Silvestre Varela’s last-gasp strike secured a 3-2 victory for Portugal.

Paulo Bento’s team led 2-0 through goals from Pepe and Helder Postiga before a Nicklas Bendtner double dragged the Danes back into the contest. Substitute Varela smashed home a winner for the Portuguese with just three minutes left to go.

After their surprise 1-0 win over the Netherlands in the first round of matches in Group B, a draw would have left the Danes with a good chance to progress to the quarter-finals.

And manager Olsen lamented the result which has thrown the so-called ‘Group of Death’ wide open.

“Of course I feel hugely disappointed now and we have a sickbay of injured players; two to three players,” Olsen told Danish television channel TV2.

“It was a heroic performance. We showed a fantastic attitude in the second half. We must try to recover as fast as possible and then we must go for at least one point on Sunday.

“Perhaps we were lucky against Netherlands, but today we were unlucky not to get at least a point. But that’s football for you.”

Denmark’s final group game is against Germany in Lviv on Sunday.