As reigning Olympic and world champions, Denmark entered the home European Championship as the gold favorite. Tuesday's stunning 29–31 defeat in front of around 15,000 red-and-white fans changes a lot.
That's how life is sometimes, says Danish right-winger Mathias Gidsel to Danish TV2.
Sometimes we have to realize that we are mortal, and we experienced that now. We can be defeated and it may also be healthy for you (the Danish media) to realize that the Danish men's national team can lose a handball match.
It is the first time since the 2014 European Championship final that Denmark has lost at Boxen in Herning, according to TV2. The team still advances to the intermediate round, but will have a more difficult path to the semi-finals as they will not take any points from the group stage, while Portugal will take two.
"We didn't reach the level we are used to. We made an unusually large number of mistakes. Portugal deserved to win," says Denmark's national team captain Nikolaj Jacobsen to NTB.
The top two teams in the intermediate round advance to the semifinals. Next up for Denmark is another gold contender, France (two points), on Thursday.
Sweden is also through, but is playing in the second of the two groups in the intermediate round.
