Fernando Santos had no concerns around his future as Portugal coach after his team lost 1-0 to Spain and missed out on a place at the Nations League Finals.
Spain's dramatic victory came courtesy of Alvaro Morata's goal in the 88th minute, sending La Roja to next year's tournament instead of Portugal.
Having only needed a draw to advance, the late winner was of great frustration to Santos, but he would not entertain talk around his status as coach.
Informed of criticism and asked whether poor results would affect his position, Santos shot back: "Well, that's fine. But what should I answer? It doesn't pinch [impact] me at all.
"Do you want to be more direct or is that your question?
"My contract goes until 2024. I can't be more direct than that."
On the match, Santos added: "We cannot concede a goal in the last minutes. If we have to defend, we should give everything for it.
"Anyway, the players worked hard, and we still had a good opportunity, but we didn't make the most of it."
Spain had five shots on target to Portugal's four, but all of those came after the 71st minute, with Santos' side paying for their earlier profligacy.
"If I would like to simplify, I would say that we had several opportunities and Spain only had a few," the coach said. "So it would be a matter of efficiency: we didn't score.
"We must look at the whole game. We are all very sad. We were convinced that we would reach the Nations League Finals. We are not there, so we are obviously sad.
"We must move on and identify what needs to be improved. We must address it in order to be on top form at the World Cup."
Portugal were not helped by Cristiano Ronaldo's failure to contribute in attack.
He has now not scored in his past three appearances for Portugal, and there are questions around his ability to carry the national team without consistent game time at Manchester United.
"I am only interested in the team's performance," Santos said. "Ronaldo had three or four chances, two of them very good.
"He normally scores [in these situations], but he didn't. It's football. We normally expect him to score, but he didn't."
Giroud leaving Milan to join MLS at end of season
Olivier Giroud announced he will be leaving Milan to join the MLS at the end of the season when his contract expires.
The Frenchman joined the club in July 2021 from Chelsea, winning the Serie A title in his first season.
Giroud has scored 48 goals in 130 games in all competitions for Milan, netting 16 of those this season to help them to a second-place finish.
In an emotional interview with the club’s media channels, Giroud said: "I'm here to tell you that the next two games will be my last for Milan. My career will continue in MLS.
"I'm very proud of everything I've done here at Milan across three seasons. It's the right time to announce it. I'm a bit emotional. My story with Milan ends this season, but Milan will forever remain in my heart."
Though Giroud did not confirm which team he would be joining in the MLS, previous reports suggested he could be moving to LAFC to link up with his France international team-mate, Hugo Lloris.
Giroud leaving Milan at end of season to join MLS
Olivier Giroud announced he will be leaving Milan to join the MLS at the end of the season when his contract expires.
The Frenchman joined the club in July 2021 from Chelsea, winning the Serie A title in his first season.
Giroud has scored 48 goals in 130 games in all competitions for Milan, netting 16 of those this season to help them to a second-place finish.
In an emotional interview with the club’s media channels, Giroud said: "I'm here to tell you that the next two games will be my last for Milan. My career will continue in MLS.
"I'm very proud of everything I've done here at Milan across three seasons. It's the right time to announce it. I'm a bit emotional. My story with Milan ends this season, but Milan will forever remain in my heart."
Though Giroud did not confirm which team he would be joining in the MLS, previous reports suggested he could be moving to LAFC to link up with his France international team-mate, Hugo Lloris.
Beckham: Man Utd's problems have lasted 'too long'
David Beckham believes Manchester United’s issues have lasted "too long" since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
The Red Devils have won just four major trophies since Ferguson’s departure, with their most recent – an EFL Cup win last season – ending a six-year wait for silverware.
United have not won a Premier League title since the Scot’s final season in charge, with six managers failing to reclaim the top-flight crown since then.
This season, Erik ten Hag’s side are at risk of recording their lowest league finish and points tally, as they sit eighth on 54 points with two games remaining.
Beckham, who won 13 trophies, including six Premier League titles and the Champions League, told The Athletic: "I think it has been a difficult time over the last five or ten years, but it was always going to be when the boss left the club.
"It wasn’t just that, we lost players like Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane and Gary Neville, all of these players that had been at United for so long; you lose part of that, and you lose part of the club.
"So it was always going to be a difficult time. But we’d like it to change pretty quickly because I think it’s gone on for too long now."
United have lost 19 games in all competitions this season, their most since 1977-78 (also 19), with nine of those coming at Old Trafford – their joint-most at home in a season and the first time it has happened in the Premier League.
Their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday marked the first time they had conceded in 10 successive games in all competitions since October 2021, while the 82 goals they have let in this season is their most since 1970-71 (also 82).
Beckham was speaking at the premiere of 99, the Amazon Prime documentary covering United’s iconic treble-winning season 25 years ago.
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