Portugal manager Roberto Martínez and his players were delighted at the end of the electrifying victory over Denmark in Lisbon tonight, but made it obvious that the sharp criticism directed at them over recent days had stung.

Martínez in particular took issue with one journalist, suggesting that if he is “suffering” watching Portugal play he should change profession. Bernardo Silva hit the nail on the head by saying “there is no middle ground in football” given the passion involved.

Two-goal hero Franscisco Trincão, meanwhile, revealed that he has been encouraged to shoot more often both by his club and national team coaches.

Roberto Martínez, Portugal coach

“I think today we had a feast of football and that’s important. The Seleção is not for criticising the coach or to have a debate. It’s for us to be proud, to enjoy the players we have. Today we saw a mixture of generations: Bernardo Silva played his 100th Portugal game, Geovany Quenda was on the bench. This is a very, very special changing room.

“I’d like to say that all the fans, the Portuguese people, should be very proud of this team. The first game did not go well, we accept that, but today we used the advantage of playing in front of our own fans to create a special atmosphere, which helped a lot. We played a game, that as the manager, I’m very happy with.

“The number of players who entered the pitch showed the work we have been doing over these two years, not just these last two days, and scoring five goals is always important. I think today our performance was very, very good, and we completely wiped away our display in Copenhagen.”

A visibly irritated Martínez, no doubt stung by the harsh criticism aimed at him in recent days, was asked if he “suffered” while watching the game. He immediately asked the journalist if he had suffered, and the journalist replied yes.

“You suffered? Well I enjoyed it. Because this is football. There are no easy games. Have you seen the other quarter-final games? Football is this. Denmark played a good game. We were superior. But if you don’t like to suffer, I don’t think you should follow football.

“I can say that over two years we have lost two competitive games. And one was against Georgia when we were already qualified and first in the group. So in two years, 28 games, one defeat. I don’t think there are many national teams in the world who have achieved that.”