winners Portugal following Sunday's 2-1 defeat.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos believes Serbia deserved to
qualify for Euro 2016.
Serbia finished fourth in the five-team Group I after losing 2-1 at
home to table-leaders Portugal on Sunday.
Aleksandar Kolarov and Nemanja Matic were sent off late in
Belgrade as Serbia's disappointing qualifying campaign came to
an end.
Santos was surprised to see Serbia - who were deducted three
points after last October's fixture at home to Albania was
abandoned - finish 10 points adrift of their Balkan rivals and
second position, given coach Radovan Curcic has Kolarov,
Matic, Branislav Ivanovic, Dusan Tadic, Adem Ljajic and
Aleksandar Mitrovic at his disposal.
"I think that Serbia have great players, and deserved to finish
second," Santos said via UEFA.com.
"But then again - this is football."
On his own team's performance in the Serbian capital, which
saw Cristiano Ronaldo, Fabio Coentrao, Bernardo Silva and Jose
Fonte rested, Santos added: "I knew that the young players can
contribute.
"We are preparing the next generation and we will test them in
the upcoming friendlies so that they are prepared for the finals."
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