These times are turbulent ones for the Portuguese national team, who followed up their shambolic World Cup campaign with a stunning defeat at home to Albania in their first Euro 2016 qualifier. That loss cost coach Paulo Bento his job, with the Portuguese football association electing to replace him with former Greece coach Fernando Santos.
Denmark vs. Portugal live stream: How to watch Euro 2016 qualifying online
Portugal will look to record the first win of their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign away in Denmark on Tuesday.
Christopher Lee
Santos was initially set to be banned from the sidelines for eight matches after an incident during the World Cup, but he will be sat on the bench for Tuesday’s crunch qualifier against Denmark after being granted an appeal.
Denmark, meanwhile, have had a broadly positive start to their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, though it has been solid rather than spectacular. They won 2-1 at home to Armenia on the first matchday, and followed that up with a tricky 1-1 draw away to Albania. Still unbeaten, they may well feel confident of piling yet more misery on Portugal in Copenhagen on Tuesday.
Key player - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
No matter how grim things may look for Portugal, they’ve still got one of the best footballers on the planet in Cristiano Ronaldo. The 29-year-old attacker has hit some lethal form so far this season, and has scored 15 goals in his last eight domestic appearances for Real Madrid. If Portugal maximise his potential against Denmark, then they should be able to get things right back on track.
Key question - How much freedom will Portugal give Christian Eriksen?
There's no doubt that Denmark's best player is Christian Eriksen. The playmaker is only 22, but he's aready picked up 47 international caps. Blessed with brilliant vision and a technical ability that lets him create chances from just about anywhere in the attacking third, Portugal are going to have to try and figure out a way to keep him out of the game. That may even mean getting midfield anchorman William Carvalho to do a man-marking job.
Match Date/Time: Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. local, 2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark
TV: ESPN 2 (U.S. - English), ESPN Deportes (U.S. - Spanish), Sportsnet World (Canada), ITV 4 (U.K.), Kanal 5 (Denmark), RTP 1 (Portugal)
Online: Watch ESPN (U.S.), Sportsnet World Now (Canada), RTP Play (Portugal)
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