Rasmus Højlund equalised for Denmark in the second half of a UEFA Nations League meeting with Portugal at Parken Stadium, ran toward the corner flag and launched into Ronaldo’s “Siu”. Portugal still won the Matchday 3 fixture 4-2, with João Cancelo, Mikkel Damsgaard, Gonçalo Ramos, Vitinha and João Félix among the scorers in a six-goal evening.

The man whose celebration Højlund borrowed was not on the pitch. Ronaldo had left Portugal’s training camp earlier in the week and travelled to Madrid, with Rafael Leão wearing the national team’s No. 7 shirt.

‘For me it is an honour’

Thursday was the second time Højlund has pulled out the “Siu” against Portugal. The first came in March 2025, when he scored the only goal of a Nations League quarter-final first leg in Copenhagen and performed the celebration while Ronaldo watched from the Portuguese bench.

Ronaldo’s reply, delivered at a Portugal news conference before the return leg in Lisbon, became the defining line of their short cross-generational rivalry.

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“For me, it was not a problem,” Ronaldo told reporters. “I knew that this was not because he did not have respect for me.”

“For me, it is an honour.”

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner added a playful promise for the following day: he hoped Højlund would see his own celebration in the second leg.

The idol he grew up watching

Højlund had already explained himself. Speaking to Danish broadcaster TV2 after the first-leg goal in 2025, he described Ronaldo as the reason he fell in love with football as a child.

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“I’m playing against the world’s best footballer, my idol, and to score and become the winner, it couldn’t be better,” the Manchester United forward said.

“It was not to mock him or anything, I’ve always said he has had great importance for me and my football career.”

Jorge Jesus brushed aside

Minutes after the final whistle on Thursday, television cameras caught Højlund placing a hand on Jorge Jesus’s chest and brushing past the Portugal manager rather than shaking his offered hand.

Jesus is reported to be at the centre of the dispute that pulled Ronaldo out of the national team camp. Højlund has not spoken publicly about the gesture.

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Denmark and Portugal meet again in the reverse fixture later in the 2026-27 Nations League group phase.

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