Despite scoring a brace, the Dane was on the losing side and has attracted unwanted attention after his goal celebration.
The 24-year old Arsenal forward put in an impressive shift in his side's crucial ‘Group of Death’ encounter against Portugal. Denmark had a disastrous start to the game as they lost 2 goals around the half hour mark.
Paulo Bento’s side threatened to pile more misery on the Danes, but Bendtner managed to draw his side level. The scores were not level for long as Denmark conceded in the dying minutes of the match, after a powerful volley from
Varela.
The Danish centre forward was clearly hear broken after the loss, but was delighted to score a double for his country.
"I am really disappointed. It's always great to score but the most important thing for me was to hold onto the point,” he is quoted as saying in an interview.
He revealed he dreamt of scoring in the Euros, but the disappointment of not sealing the qualification was immense.
“The disappointment of losing the point was greater than scoring the goals,” he added.
Getting to the knockouts is not the only thing Bendtner should be worried about; his goal celebration against Portugal in which he displayed his ‘paddy power’ underwear is being frowned upon by the UEFA officials.
The striker is accused of being part of the Irish bookmaker’s marketing campaign. He was also congratulated by Ken Robertson of Paddy Power in a statement.
“I'm truly delighted for Nicklas, what a stunning performance tonight. I have no doubt that the luck of the Irish thanks to our lucky underpants helped him find the back of the net twice,” Ken Robertson is reported to have said.
Bendtner’s celebration appears to be a direct violation of UEFA’s rules on ambush marketing. They are known to ban any advertising on players’ kits during a tournament. The 24-year old is likely to face the wrath of the authorities
for his latest gaffe.
This incident however should not take anything away from Bendtner, who was in fine form and played nothing like his former self.
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