Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo says he is happy that the qualification stage "ended well" after Friday's 1-0 win at home to Denmark sealed their place at Euro 2016.
Monaco midfielder Joao Moutinho scored the only goal of a closely contested game in Braga, confirming Portugal as Group I winners and leaving the Danes' fate dependent on Albania's game in Armenia on Sunday.
Portugal began the qualifiers with a shock home defeat to Albania, one of a string of poor results which saw then coach Paulo Bento sacked and replaced by former Greece manager Fernando Santos.
Santos quickly stabilised the situation and the team have won all six of their qualifiers under his guidance -- meaning they won the group with one game still to play in Serbia on Sunday.
Mission accomplished! Great team work leads to great victories. #euro2016 here we go. #forçaportugal pic.twitter.com/2e7ZM1zk4G
- Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) October 8, 2015
Amid the celebrations Ronaldo told Portuguese TV, in quotes picked up by A Bola, that he was happy with how things had turned out.
"It has been a difficult qualifying phase," he said. "We began badly, but we have ended well."
Santos coming in and bringing back experienced players such as Atletico Madrid midfielder Tiago and Monaco centre-back Ricardo Carvalho had worked out well.
"[Santos'] arrival has been good for us, he brought back players we were missing," he added.
Santos himself told his postmatch news conference that Ronaldo, along with fellow 30-somethings Tiago and Carvalho, were being excused duty for Sunday's qualifier against Serbia and allowed to return to their clubs immediately.
"I had been thinking before that if we won today, we would make changes for the next game, because we recognise that, at this point in time, it would be a little tiring for some of the players," Santos said.
"I want to see and work with other players, so Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiago and Ricardo Carvalho have been released from the squad."