Portugal coach Paulo Bento has denied a fall-out with Cristiano Ronaldo and insists his country can still reach the Euros final.
Portugal coach defends his skipper amid talk of a bust-up
Portugal coach Paulo Bento has denied a fall-out with Cristiano Ronaldo and insists his country can still reach the Euros final.
The Portugal captain stormed off the pitch following the opening 1-0 loss to Germany and subsequently pulled out of training on Monday.
But Bento denied this was because of a bust-up, while he apologised if any fan was upset by Ronaldo's antics after the defeat.
"Players react to different situations in different ways. If anyone was offended, I'd like to apologise, because I'm responsible," said Bento.
Bento's former team-mates Luis Figo and Rui Costa have criticised his tactics but the Portugal boss has stuck to his guns, believing they can overcome their opening loss and still progress out of Group B, starting with a result against Denmark on Wednesday.
Strategy
He said: "Everybody is talking about the strategy with the national squad.
"I won't say anything against Luis or Rui, they're my colleagues. But they know it's harder to do something than say something.
"We created more chances than Germany did but the only thing that will be remembered by history is we lost to Germany 1-0.
"We wanted to play counter attacks against the French in 2000 and we lost the game. We lost the first game in 2004 and still got to the finals."
Bento insisted he would continue to play Helder Postiga up front for Portugal against Denmark, although he did admit he had considered replacing the striker with Nelson Oliveira, who played for 20 minutes on Saturday.
"I still think that our forwards need to score more goals, but it's not the only way you can evaluate a team," he said.
"In strategic terms, the game isn't just about attacking, it's also about defending.
"It's about knowing where and how you should apply pressure, and people need to recognise that Portugal did a great job in these areas."
