Denmark and Portugal will meet for the third time in this UEFA EURO 2012 campaign with the Danes hoping to maintain the supremacy they have enjoyed in the sides' recent qualifying encounters.

Head-to-head record
• The nations are playing for a 13th time, with Denmark's record in their previous contests reading W3 D2 L7.

• Denmark finished as group winners when pitted against Portugal in both UEFA EURO 2012 and 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, winning 3-2 in Lisbon and drawing 1-1 at home in the latter instance. Both times Portugal finished second and beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the play-offs.

• The countries first met in a friendly in Esbjerg on 21 June 1966, which Portugal won 3-1. Indeed the Portuguese triumphed in the sides' first six matches, and it took until their eighth attempt – a 4-2 friendly win in Brondby on 1 September 2006 – for Denmark to record a first victory in this fixture.

• Denmark have won three of the last five meetings between the two sides – all within the past five years, all under current coach Morten Olsen – but their most recent victory was their first in five UEFA European Championship games, with three of the first four ending in defeat.

• Nicklas Bendtner has scored in all three of his competitive games against Portugal and also in a 4-2 friendly victory. He has yet to be on the losing side in this fixture.

• Nani may be Portugal's talisman having scored three times in his four outings against Denmark.

Selected previous meetings
11 October 2011: Denmark 2-1 Portugal (Krohn-Dehli 13, Bendtner 63; Cristiano Ronaldo 90+2) – Parken Stadion, Copenhagen, UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying
Denmark: Sørensen, Jacobsen, Bjelland, Kjær, Silberbauer (S Poulsen 76), Kvist, Zimling, Rommedahl (J Poulsen 87), Eriksen, Krohn-Dehli, Bendtner.
Portugal: Rui Patrício, João Pereira, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Eliseu (Miguel Veloso 65), Carlos Martins (Ricardo Quaresma 65), Raul Meireles, João Moutinho, Nani, Hélder Postiga (Nuno Gomes 78), Cristiano Ronaldo.

• Having lost 3-1 in Portugal in their first qualifying meeting, Olsen's side turned the tables in the return fixture to seal first place in Group H, and force Paulo Bento's charges into the aforementioned play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

9 June 1996: Denmark 1-1 Portugal (Brian Laudrup 22; Sá Pinto 53) – Hillsborough, Sheffield, EURO '96 group stage
Denmark: Schmeichel, Helveg, Rieper, Høgh, Risager, Larsen (Vilfort 90), M Laudrup, B Nielsen, Thomsen (Piechnik 83), B Laudrup, Beck.
Portugal: Vítor Baía, Paulinho Santos, Hélder Cristóvão, Fernando Couto, Dimas, Oceano (António Folha 37), Paulo Sousa (José Tavares 79), Sá Pinto, Luís Figo (Domingos 62), João Pinto, Rui Costa.

• The teams' only previous meeting at a major final tournament came in their opening fixture at EURO '96; Richard Møller Nielsen's Danes led but Sá Pinto replied for António Oliveira's side. Portugal went on to win Group D, while the Danes bowed out with a third-placed finish.

Form guide
• Winners in 1992, Denmark failed to reach UEFA EURO 2008. Prior to that, they had competed at every UEFA European Championship finals since 1984, when they reached the semi-finals, but lost out to Spain on penalties.

• Having made their debut at the 1984 finals, Portugal have featured at every UEFA European Championship since EURO '96. They have never failed to progress beyond the group stage, famously reaching the final on home soil at UEFA EURO 2004 but losing to outsiders Greece.

Team ties
• Michael Lumb was a colleague of Portugal defender Bruno Alves and forward Danny at FC Zenit St Petersburg for the first half of 2011/12 before leaving on loan for SC Freiburg.

• Denmark's Daniel Agger and Christian Poulsen were team-mates of Portugal midfielder Raul Meireles at Liverpool FC in the 2010/11 season.

• Portugal's Hugo Almeida and Denmark's Daniel Jensen played together at SV Werder Bremen from 2007 to 2010.

• Portugal left-back Eliseu has played alongside two Denmark players at Málaga CF – Patrick Mtiliga from 2009 to 2011, and Kris Stadsgaard since 2010.

• The Danes' Simon Kjær and Thomas Kahlenberg played with Ricardo Costa at VfL Wolfsburg up until the Portugal defender's departure for LOSC Lille Métropole on loan at the start of 2011.

• Portugal coach Bento had some notable Danish team-mates in his days as a midfielder. He played alongside Peter Møller at Real Oviedo from 1998 to 2000 and Peter Schmeichel at Sporting Clube de Portugal in 2000/01.