rewrite this title Rasmus Hojlund copies Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal celebration as Denmark beat Portugal in Nations League

Rasmus Hojlund performed Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal celebration after scoring the winner for Denmark against Portugal in the Nations League on Thursday.

Hojlund came off the bench to net the winner in his side’s 1-0 Nations League quarter-final first-leg victory at Parken Stadium.

The Manchester United striker struck in the 78th minute to help spare the blushes of Christian Eriksen, whose first-half penalty was saved.

“It was fantastic, it was a great day in many ways,” said Hojlund about the goal and celebration.

“I played against my idol and scored and was the match winner. It couldn’t have been written much better.”

Meanwhile, Bruno Fernandes, Hojlund’s captain at Old Trafford but playing on the opposite side to the forward in Portugal colours, said: “We weren’t surprised, we knew they were aggressive and that they would come out strong.

“We lacked aggression and we needed to be stronger in the duels, more intelligent in taking advantage of the depth.

“We have a difficult game ahead of us but we really want to win, and at home with our fans we are sure that we’ll be able to turn the game around.”

Hojlund’s celebration in pictures

What else happened in the Nations League?

Arsenal’s Mikel Merino scored a stoppage-time equaliser as European champions Spain snatched a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands in their Nations League quarter-final first leg.

Spain struck early in Thursday’s encounter in Rotterdam through Nico Williams but the hosts quickly responded as Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo found the net.

Tijjani Reijnders then gave the Dutch the lead early in the second half but the 81st-minute sending-off of Jorrel Hato gave the Spanish hope and Merino had the final say.

France face a tough task to retrieve their last-eight tie after going down 2-0 to Croatia in Split.

Ante Budimir and Ivan Perisic both scored in the first half after Andrej Kramaric had missed an early penalty for the hosts.

Germany claimed the advantage against Italy after coming from behind to win 2-1 in Milan.

Sandro Tonali opened the scoring for the Italians after nine minutes but Tim Kleindienst headed Germany level four minutes after the break. A header from Leon Goretzka secured the win 14 minutes from time, as Italy suffered an injury scare to Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori late on.

Belgium are facing the prospect of dropping into League B after conceding three times in the second half to lose 3-1 to Ukraine in Murcia. Turkey beat Hungary 3-1, while Austria and Serbia drew 1-1.

Kosovo beat Iceland 2-1 while Georgia ran out 3-0 winners in Armenia. Slovakia and Slovenia have everything still to play for after a goalless draw.