Portugal win big, Ronaldo nowhere to be seen

Portugal arrived in Copenhagen without their biggest name and left with their biggest scoreline of the campaign. The 4-2 win over Denmark kept Jorge Jesus's side unbeaten in Group A4, and it did it without the one player the squad has been built around for two decades.

Ronaldo left the Portugal camp before the match, with reports of a falling out between the forward and Jesus. The exact details of what happened haven't been spelled out, but the timing is hard to ignore: biggest game of the window so far, and Portugal's record goalscorer isn't on the team sheet.

A statement result

Four goals away to a Denmark side that's no pushover is the kind of result that gets noticed regardless of who's missing. Portugal have now won every Nations League fixture in this group, and they did the latest one without leaning on Ronaldo at all. For a squad that's spent years being framed as his supporting cast, that's the story here.

It doesn't settle the Ronaldo question for good. He's still Portugal's record scorer and still a name Jesus will presumably want back in the fold. But a 4-2 win in Copenhagen, scored without him, is evidence the group can function at a serious level on its own terms.

Klopp off the mark

Across the continent in Serbia, Jürgen Klopp got the first competitive win of his Germany reign, 2-0, after taking charge of the national team. First wins don't rewrite reputations, but they do settle nerves, and a clean sheet away from home in the Nations League is a decent way to start building whatever Klopp wants this Germany side to look like.

Portugal and Germany both head into the next window with momentum, for very different reasons. One camp has a superstar problem to sort out. The other just needed a manager who knows how to win.