Portugal head coach, Fernando Santos, has taken full responsibility after his side lost an automatic 2022 World Cup ticket in a shock 2-1 defeat to Serbia on Sunday.
Santos also criticized his players for performing with “fear and anxiety” during the match.
Portugal gave away a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 to Serbia in the Group A World Cup qualifier over the weekend.
Renato Sanchez had opened the scoring for Santos’s men, but Dusan Tadic equalized in the 33rd minute of the game.
Aleksandar Mitrovic then came off the bench to grab a 90th-minute winner and complete a remarkable comeback for Serbia.
“It looked like it was going to be, but it wasn’t. We scored the goal, we had the initial moments. But then we started to drop deep a lot,” Santos was quoted by Mirror as saying at his post-match press conference.
“The players tried. But then we didn’t turn the game on. Every time we did, we created problems. But most of the time, we couldn’t.
“Serbia were better. We tried. Our DNA is to have the ball on our feet and play. Bernardo Silva wanted the ball, but he was the only one.
“We played with fear and anxiety. It’s my responsibility.”
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