Roberto Martinez labelled Portugal's 1-0 defeat to Denmark in the first leg of their Nations League quarter-final as their "worst performance in two years".

Portugal struggled in the final third at Parken and have a slender deficit to overturn on Sunday thanks to Rasmus Hojlund's late goal.

Christian Eriksen also missed a penalty in the first half as Portugal faced 23 shots, nine of which were on target as Diogo Costa recovered from a nervy start to keep his side in the tie.

The visitors, by comparison, managed just eight attempts worth 0.51 expected goals (xG), with Kasper Schmeichel only tested twice.

"It was our worst performance in the last two years," Martinez said. "During the game we didn't do what we had to do to play with the atmosphere and the aggressiveness that Denmark have.

"We need games like that. There was a five-month break, and we didn't come out with the intensity we needed.

"Denmark's pressure was very effective. It would have been very easy to play long balls and not try to improve as a team. We suffered at times and Diogo Costa gave us an opportunity to go into the second leg with confidence."

Portugal dominated possession against Denmark and came out on top in more of their duels, winning 34 to their hosts' 29.

While they saw a lot of the ball, they were sloppy with it, losing possession a combined 103 times as a team, with six players giving it away 10 or more times.

Bruno Fernandes was unable to provide an attacking spark for Portugal and noted that this result serves as a lesson about what they need to improve before the second leg on Sunday.

"We have a very experienced and also very young team at the same time," he said.

"We are always aware of what we are capable of doing. It is not at all worrying, but it is a lesson in what we have to do differently in the next game.

"I think it was a bit of a lack of aggression. We didn't make the most of the space that Denmark left us in behind. Because we want to have the ball, we want to play, sometimes we end up making the mistake of playing too much and not taking advantage of the speed of Pedro Neto and Rafael Leao, one on one, up front."