Brentford goalkeeper Hákon Valdimarsson has discussed his competitive Iceland debut against Portugal, where he is back with the Bees on their pre-season tour, and the "wow" moment he had when going head-to-head with his childhood idol Cristiano Ronaldo.

The goalkeeper had made four appearances for his country before the game at Estádio José Alvalade, but the Euro 2024 qualifier was Valdimarsson's first competitive appearance between the sticks.

A 2-0 defeat wasn't the result he would have liked, but the young keeper was satisfied with a "great" performance from himself - as well as the fact he prevented Ronaldo from getting on the scoresheet.

"Before the game, in the tunnel, I saw him and was just like... 'wow'. I had been following this guy since I was a kid. He was my favourite player as I was growing up and it was a really nice moment for me to play against him - and, most importantly, not let him score!

"In the game, I was in the zone and I forgot about the other things, but it was more after the game when my friends would text me and send me videos about the match."

Discussing his Iceland debut itself, he added: "It was so nice for me, my family and my friends. It was a really good game to make my competitive debut. I played a few friendlies but this was my first competitive game.

"Against Portugal, a full stadium here, we played really good as a team, I had a great game too, and I just want to continue doing that for my country.

"It's been fun to play for the national team and I try to enjoy the attention as much as possible."

Having made his Iceland debut at the home of Sporting Lisbon, Valdimarsson played against their rivals Benfica for Brentford on Thursday, as he featured for the opening 45 minutes in the 1-1 draw.

His solid saves and composed distribution impressed at Estádio da Luz, in a game and pre-season tour he is enjoying ahead of the new Premier League season.

"It's really nice. We have great facilities to train in and Portugal is really good," said the 22-year-old.

"The weather is fantastic, which always helps - but when you're wearing the goalkeeper gloves you sweat a lot!

"For me, this pre-season is about playing good games, getting used to how Brentford play, and trying to learn as much as possible.

"I want to improve as much as I can in this first pre-season with Brentford. I'm used to pre-season being four months in Sweden; this pre-season is five weeks so it's different, but I'll train hard and do the best I can."