AC Milan star Jon Dahl Tomasson claims that he and his Danish team-mates were furious with themselves for throwing away the chance to finish top of Group C rather than planning any contrived result to see off Italy.
The Italians are furious at what they see as an engineered result between Denmark and Sweden, who secured a 2-2 draw at the Bessa stadium which eliminated the Azzurri regardless of their 2-1 win over Bulgaria.
Striker Tomasson, who twice put Denmark ahead in the match, said: "There was a lot of talk about 2-2 but we all tried all of the time, all we wanted was three points to win the match.
"We are all really disappointed that we did not hold on at the end when we were 2-1 ahead, because that would have won the group for us. We did not play as we would have liked. Okay, so we are in the quarter-finals, but we did not show Danish football in the way we wanted.
"I play my football in Italy and of course I feel sorry for them. They have some great players who I admire and respect. The Swedish people will not like hearing me say this, but I believe the best two teams in the group were Denmark and Italy."
Sweden twice came from behind with a Henrik Larsson penalty and a late equaliser from Mattias Jonson. And that equaliser upset Danish coach Morten Olsen even before he was confronted with questioning about the scoreline and what it meant to the Italians.
Olsen was clearly angry with the line of questioning and refused point blank even to discuss the Swedish team, blasting: "I am not interested in them, only my own team."
Olsen has had to field questions about his and Sweden's attitude to this match for days, and after his team had drawn and finished runners-up to the Swedes, he hit out: "It is ridiculous to ask questions about a 2-2 scoreline. Anyone who saw the game knows that there were two teams out their going for the win from the start.
"I am just disappointed that we did not hold on in those final minutes to win the match and the group, but it was not to be. But what people saw out on the pitch shows that the 2-2 suggestion is just ridiculous, and I refuse to answer any more questions about it."
Denmark will now play the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals in Porto, while Sweden await the conclusion of Group D.
Filed by Aidan O'Doherty
