KEIR RADNEDGE in PRAGUE: Portugal coach Rui Jorge found it hard to accept defeat in the final of UEFA U21 Euro knowing how much his players had achieved in the tournament.

He described the defeat on penalties by Sweden after a goal-less extra time draw as “a bitter feeling.”

Rui Jorge said: “If someone had told us we would be second before the tournament maybe this would seem positive but after all that we did here it can’t be positive because we deserved more after all that we’ve done.

“Since the first match with this group of players we have done something amazing. We didn’t manage to win the tournament but we had a 15-match run without a single defeat and didn’t score in only two matches so that is praiseworthy.”

Rui Jorge, despite his disappointment, was generous in praise of the Swedes.

He said: “We feel it’s not fair for us not to win but Sweden did everything in their power to win it. They have a lot of quality and managed to get there in the end.

“The important thing for us is to wake up tomorrow and feel we did everything in our power to get a better result.”

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