Denmark coach Morten Olsen blames Christian Eriksen for Portugal loss

Denmark coach Morten Olsen has blamed Tottenham Hotspur's Christian Eriksen for their loss to Portugal and slammed his lack of impact on the national team.

A stoppage-time header from Cristiano Ronaldo condemned the Danes to a first defeat of their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in Copenhagen on Tuesday evening.

Eriksen has scored 12 goals in 43 games for Tottenham Hotspur, but Olsen does not feel that the playmaker has improved since moving to the Premier League from Ajax in 2013 and has told him that he needs to raise his game significantly when he pulls on the Denmark shirt.

"It is a brutal world, otherwise you have to play at another level," Olsen told reporters. "It is not Ajax any more, this is not development.

"After so many matches he could pick up the ball and help to control the game. He has not been able to. Therefore, we blame him. He must stand up to the criticism, and he does too.

"It is quite something when you have to criticize a player like Christian Eriksen. It should not take place. If it was a player at a lower level, one could say that he had no class. But with Christian Eriksen do not make the mistake. I must be tough and say to him. And he knows it well."

Eriksen, 22, has scored five goals in 47 international appearances since debuting as a teenager in 2010.