It’s time for the first international break of the season. While France is preparing to challenge Italy and Belgium, Portugal is also on deck for two matches. The Portuguese coach, Roberto Martinez, has called up a list of 25 players mixing experience and youth with Diogo Costa (FC Porto), José Sa (Wolverhampton), Rui Silva (Betis Seville). In defense, Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Antonio Silva (Benfica), Renato Veiga (Chelsea), Gonçalo Inacio (Sporting Portugal), Tiago Santos (Lille), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Nuno Mendes (PSG), Nelson Semedo (Wolverhampton) make up the rearguard. Joao Palhinha (Bayern), Joao Neves (PSG), Vitinha (PSG), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal) camp in the middle, while the offensive lines are made up of Joao Félix (Chelsea), Francisco Trincao (Sporting Portugal), Pedro Gonçalves (Sporting Portugal), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Geovany Quenda (Sporting Portugal), Pedro Ne to (Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr), Diogo Jota (Liverpool).
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A very nice list in which the legend Cristiano Ronaldo still appears at 39 years old. The Portugal selection gathered this Monday to begin its preparation for the first two matches of this new season of the Nations League. Roberto Martínez’s players will host Croatia and Scotland, in their first gathering since Euro 2024, during which Portugal ended up being eliminated in the quarter-finals against France. After finishing a final phase of a Euro without scoring in five games played, Cristiano Ronaldo had received a lot of criticism. Despite some detractors, CR7 considers these criticisms as “great», car “without criticism, there is no evolution” according to his philosophy. But at 39, Ronaldo is logically closer to the end than the beginning of his career. A situation of which he is fully aware, but which does not terrify him more than that.
Read Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo offers his help to Geovany Quenda
CR7 doesn’t put any pressure on himself!
While he had a flamboyant season with Al-Nassr, his return to a major European competition was more complicated for the former Real Madrid player. At the end of the Euro, a debate on the necessity of his retirement for the development of the young and talented Portuguese generation had then inflamed social networks and the media: “What I feel is that right now I continue to be an asset to the team. When I feel that I am not an asset, I will be the first to leave and I will go with a clear conscience, as always. I know what I am, what I do and what I will continue to do. I will always have, until the end of my career, the thought that I will be a starter. I have always respected the decisions of the selectors and the coaches… Not always, but that is because they have also behaved badly towards me. Whenever there is a professional ethic, I will always respect the coaches“, said CR7 this Monday in a press conference.
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At 39, Cristiano Ronaldo has spoken about the possibility of reaching the thousandth goal of his career, although the Portuguese “star” stresses that goals are no longer a concern: “When that moment comes, sooner or later, I will be the first to take that step forward. It will be a very personal decision for me and it will not be very difficult to make. It will be a normal decision, as other players have done, like Pepe, who had an excellent career, who is an example for all of us and who left through the front door. That is how you can see it, leaving through the front door with joy and not with sadness. In recent years, what moves me is the joy I still have in training and competing. For me, that is the most important thing. Sometimes you will score, sometimes you won’t, that is part of life“, he said in the continuation of this press briefing. At the start of the fourth edition of the Nations League, the Portuguese team receives Croatia on Thursday at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, and will face Scotland three days later, in the same stadium. The national team is part of group A1, which also includes Poland, as well as the Croatians and the Scots.
Pub. and 02/09/2024 9:01 PM and 03/09/2024 9:17 AM
