In the FIFA World Cup Round of 16, Portugal unfortunately exited after a 0-1 loss to Spain. After the match, Portugal coach Martinez stated in an interview that he believed this was Portugal's best performance in this tournament.

Martinez said in an interview: "The message I want to convey is that we can be very proud. The players played this game with heart. I think this was our best game in this FIFA World Cup. The ball hit the crossbar, there was no goal, that's the difference in a very evenly matched game. The players deserved extra time. But we are proud. That's football, and we need to accept that."

What went wrong today?

"We defended very well and showed strong aggression without the ball. We were facing a favorite team, and we went head-to-head with them. We needed a bit more luck in some situations in the attacking third to convert opportunities. But overall, it was a game that could have gone either way. The game was very balanced, just like the previous UEFA Nations League final. We deserved to go to extra time."

Bruno Fernandes said the team lacked aggression and daring...

"We always want to be perfect. We had strong possession and achieved that in the first half. We wanted to get into the attacking third and create more chances, but overall, it was a battle between two teams, and the opponent also performed excellently. We were a bit unlucky. We deserved to go into extra time, and I think in that case, we might have had a different game rhythm. Because of the result, it's a sad day."

What was the intention behind the last two substitutions?

"I wanted to finish the game strong. Rafael Leão is very important, he performed well against Croatia. Today we tried to use João Félix's central attack. But we needed to protect Rafael Leão, who hadn't played 90 minutes before. Semedo continued the work that Nuno Mendes did, and so did Bernardo Silva, Dalot..."

Is this your farewell match with Portugal?

"We'll see, we'll talk about this later. What's important now is to show pride and respect for the work the players have done."

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