Major Denmark blow ahead of Greece clash as key man ruled out as 'smash them' revelation given in battle with Scotland

Midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was booked just five minutes into the clash with the Belarussians and after picking up a yellow card on matchday one against Scotland, he is now unable to face the Greeks when they visit Copenhagen on Sunday.

Denmark are top of the group on seven points, ahead of second-placed Scotland on goal difference, and can eliminate Greece from finishing first should they beat them at Parken Stadion. Head coach Brian Riemer has lamented the suspension to Hojbjerg, a vital part of his midfield, but has tipped former Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley or Arsenal’s Christian Norgaard to take his place.

“It's a real shame that we have to do without our captain, who is a top player,” said Riemer. “But this is the third time in my time as national coach that I have to do without him, and we have solved it before. We have a super strong bench with players from Marseille and Arsenal who can play the same position as Pierre.”

Riemer took great pleasure from the way his relentless Danes kept scoring against Belarus and admitted that goal difference is firmly on their minds in a tight group.

“I told the players that we were going to go out and smash them,” added Riemier. “That's the mindset we need, because we can't afford to be left with a goal short in the end. We succeeded with that mindset, and we could have scored even more goals, but we have created a big advantage over Scotland.”

Bizarre goalpost issue for Celtic keeper

There was a bizarre incident before the game against Belarus in Hungary when goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel noticed that the goalposts were too high. The Celtic stopper informed the officials and ground-staff at the ZTE Arena rushed to rectify the situation.

Schmeichel explained: "As goalkeepers, you work in millimetres and centimetres, when you've been in there for as many years as I have, you know where things need to be.

"I knew it right away. And I was right. We all had the feeling that it was higher when we went in there. It's the margins that decide things, so it's important that it's in order.

"We actually also experienced it at the World Cup in Russia before the Peru match. There the goal was 20 centimeters higher than it should be."