The scene played out at full time in front of the Braga end. Vicens and Salvador walked towards the travelling supporters who had made the trip to Denmark, and tempers flared on the touchline before security staff eventually led him to the dressing room.

The handkerchiefs are a long-standing Portuguese protest signal at football grounds. Both the manager and the president heard the criticism aimed at the team as they approached the away section.

The scoreline came together after the break. Mohamed Elyounoussi opened on 49 minutes, and substitute Andreas Cornelius struck twice late, in the 79th and 86th, after coming on just before the hour. Fox Sports’s box score also shows a Ricardo Horta effort disallowed after a VAR check.

Braga managed one shot on target

Maisfutebol’s chronicle was unsparing. The Portuguese outlet described Braga as a side condemned to pass the ball among themselves without any bite in the final third, its attack unbalanced with a midfielder shoved out onto the right wing and only one natural winger on the pitch. Braga finished the match with a single shot on target.

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Vicens’s team selection has become the running theme of the criticism. His decision to break up his midfield for a more cautious shape in Denmark drew more complaints from Portuguese commentators than Copenhagen’s goals did, and the disallowed Horta chance was Braga’s one genuine moment of the second half.

“I think together we can turn this around”

Asked about the protest by DAZN, Vicens accepted the fans’ right to protest.

“It is normal, they want to win, but I think together we can turn this situation around. We have to pull them onto our side.”

He added that the response had to start in the next game, saying his players would give everything to flip the mood as early as Monday against Gil Vicente, and that the disallowed Horta goal might have changed the shape of the night.

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Salvador has publicly backed Vicens through earlier wobbles this season. In Copenhagen he was next to his coach when the handkerchiefs came out, and the protest was pointed at both men.

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