Roberto Martinez criticizes VAR, and the players admit a bad game: all the reactions to the defeat of Portugal

Portugal lost this Wednesday to Georgia with a score of 2:0 in the match of the third round of Group F of the 2024 European Football Championship, which took place this Wednesday in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Selector Roberto Martinez’s usual second choices, with the exception of goalkeeper Diogo Costa, midfielder Palinha and captain Cristiano Ronaldo – he did not accept the challenge and remains “empty” for his sixth European Championship – gave no response and finished the group stage in a worse position. By the way, although the lead in Group F is already guaranteed, with six points, which allows them to “catch up” with Slovenia in the “1/8 finals” on July 1 at 20:00 in Frankfurt.

Several players responded to the Portuguese team’s defeat. Roberto Martinez, coach of the national team, also reacted, saying it was the “worst result yet.”

Statements:

Roberto Martinez (Portugal coach): “The game where we started poorly, conceding a goal, really highlighted what the opponents wanted to do. We tried to keep a good attitude, look at the goal and try to score the first goal, which was important, but Georgia had the key moments: the second goal, all the energy and strength, the goalkeeper’s performance. We have to congratulate them and look forward to the 1/8 finals with a more prepared team.

We didn’t want to lose, but now all our players are ready to play, the rest have rested.

When we play, it’s a mix. The early goal they missed gave them energy, strength and faith.

[O golo sofrido aos 90 segundos] This was a factor. We thought we were in control of the game, but when the opponent has the ball, belief, strength… For us it was just another game because we didn’t need to win.

VAR was not consistent as there was a game with Cristiano Ronaldo before that. They have to see if there is contact, if there is a penalty. The situation in the 27th minute is even clearer than the penalty we suffered.

We didn’t need to win, but to prepare the team and the players individually. Don’t take risks in situations like Palinha, who only played 45 minutes, to avoid being put at risk. It’s the same with other players.”

João Palinha (Portugal player): “Georgia deserved the victory and we must congratulate them. It was a less successful game on our part. Now we want to get back to the dominant Portugal we once were and we want to be that again in the next one.” The Game It was not because of the two victories that everything was good, and it was not because of this defeat that everything was bad.

We can reach the final. We have the courage and desire to do this. We all want to win and we will give our all against Slovenia.

[Sobre erros do António Silva] All of us footballers experience such moments. Antonio has great potential, great value, and that is why he is here. What happened today will give you more strength for further growth. I have no doubt that our dear Antonio will be at his best in the next game.”

Pedro Neto (Portugal player): “Our confidence will not be affected. We want to do our job, show the work. A difficult game, we started to lose. It was difficult, they played very deep to use a dangerous counter-attack.”

This will not take away our confidence: in the first two games we performed very well.

We were comfortable in the game, there were opportunities, a good start to the second half when we could have scored two goals, we played confidently, but they were far behind and played on counterattacks. They scored and complicated the situation.

We are all here to help, ready and confident for the next game.”

Diogo Dalot (Portugal player): “We showed that we are a strong group. We knew that today would be a difficult game, that they would play a low block and feel comfortable.”

We didn’t do exactly what we were prepared to do, we were a bit hasty in the final third, rushed the final pass rather than working the ball a little more and trying to find the spaces at the right time.

The truth is that this goal caused anxiety in the team, we always wanted to go for the result, instead of maintaining this calm and peace. As a result, we ruined our game.

[‘Onze’ diferente do habitual] These are deserved opportunities, people who don’t confuse today’s game with something given. These 11 deserve it, they worked hard to get there. We are a team of 26 people, not 11. We all need to be ready. Today this did not happen, but we have this opportunity and we will work during these four days to rediscover our concepts.”

Danilo Pereira (Portugal player): “We couldn’t penetrate, slow circulation and lack of objectivity. Then we also made a few mistakes, but we couldn’t correct them and they ended in a goal.”

Games like this are always difficult to analyze. It’s no one’s fault, we’re all here to help.

There have been a lot of changes and this is also affecting cohesion. We reached the 1/8 finals, we didn’t want this defeat, but now we need to work to become better.

Let Slovenia come and we will definitely be much better than in this game.”

Opponents’ reaction:

Willy Sagnol (Georgian national team coach): “The players were told to play their football, with discipline. They played a brilliant game, exceeding all expectations.”

Now it is difficult to understand what we have done, perhaps only when the competition is over. I don’t have many words today, I’m proud. What the players did at this European Championship makes me proud to be their coach.

When we are one of the small teams in a competition, we know we have nothing to lose. We don’t want to regret anything, we have to play our football and enjoy it. When it’s France, Spain or Portugal there is expectation and pressure to win but we don’t have that, just make Georgia proud of their players and I think we did that.

Now it’s Spain’s turn, who were arguably the best team in this group stage. I don’t know if it will be too difficult a task, but we will fight as we have throughout the entire competition. Today I only believed in qualification when the referee ended the game, because in football anything can happen in a short time.”

Kvaratskhelia (Georgian player, man of the match): “Yes, I have Ronaldo’s shirt. We survived, I’m very happy. This is a historic day, no one believed that we could beat Portugal. We believe in ourselves, even if there is only a chance one percent, we have to believe and we can do it.

Fan support is important. This is one of the factors that contributed to our victory, and I want to thank even those who support us from Georgia. Unity makes us stronger and we brought happiness to the fans.

When we play for our country we are very proud. This is the happiest day of my life, it was a dream. In Naples I was also happy with the title, but here, playing for the national team, it’s more difficult.

We have a lot of respect for Spain and know this team well. Spain and Portugal are the best, but today we showed that you can win regardless of your opponent. There are no simple teams in the European Championship. We will do our best and we will be there to fight.”