«When Portugal won the League of Nations it seemed a minor thing»
Statements by the national coach, Fernando Santos, at a press conference at the Estádio do Algarve, after the 5-0 victory against Luxembourg, in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup:
[100 internacionalizações de Rui Patrício:] «Congratulations to Rui, I think he is an important brand, someone of great quality, champion of Europe, winner of the League of Nations. We must not forget that… even now we saw France celebrate, the whole world celebrating the League of Nations and when Portugal voted for something smaller, but congratulations to Rui. »
[Penálti do 1-0:] «I didn’t see images, but I believe the VAR is right, now it wasn’t because of the first goal that Portugal won. If not then, it was next. Portugal won because they played a great game. The Luxembourg team is excellent, but we are not going to reverse the values, it will not make sense. I was already penalized in a bid where there was no VAR… »
[Evoluções notadas desde o Euro 2020:] “Who isn’t here who wasn’t at Euro 2020? There are two, three players. Looks like we changed the squad! They are different games, different opponents. This team that played today was in Euro 2020. The point is that, at times, in our journey, we lacked the necessary balance for the great teams. We have to keep growing. »
“It is true that some opportunities did not materialize, but some were due to the goalkeeper. We scored five goals, due to the offensive flow we could have done more, but in football it doesn’t always happen. »