Portugal breathes again after nervy win over Denmark

In arguably the best game of the tournament so far, Portugal kept its Euro 2012 hopes alive with a pulsating but nerve-wracking 3-2 victory over Denmark on Wednesday at the Arena Lviv stadium in Ukraine. The win came despite the crisis of confidence shown by Cristiano Ronaldo, who cannot seem to find his Real Madrid club form when playing for his country.

First-half goals by Pepe and Helder Postiga had originally put Portugal in the driving seat, but Denmark’s Nicklas Bendtner pulled one back with a close-range header just before half-time.

Neither of Portugal’s goals showed the imprint of star player Ronaldo, who did nothing to ruin his reputation for freezing on big occasions as he over-strived to make an impact. Ronaldo could have virtually killed the match for Portugal twice in the second half, first failing to take a one-on-one chance with just the Danish keeper to beat, and then screwing a close-range shot inexplicably wide when it seemed easier to score for the man who bagged 60 goals for Real last season.

As if the gods of hubris had thus deemed it, shortly after his glaring miss, some slack defending from Portugal allowed Bendtner to add a second headed goal in the 80th minute that caused Ronaldo to bow his head at the prospect of public humiliation and unthinkable self-doubt.

He was saved that fate by an 87th-minute goal by Silvestre Varela, whose totally mistimed first attempt at goal rebounded off his own behind to give him a second bite of the cherry, which he took as he slammed the ball between the keeper and the near post.

The victory puts Portugal on three points in a highly competitive Group B and a victory against Holland in the last match of the first phase next Sunday should be enough to ensure a place in the quarterfinals.