The under-21 national coach, Rui Jorge, released this Friday the squad list for the matches against Romania and Norway, in preparation for the category’s European Championship, with 23 names. Pedro Neto, from Wolverhampton, already international A, is back to the national team through the door of this step.
In relation to the last original call, in November, Francisco Meixedo, João Mário, Bernardo Vital, Gonçalo Inácio, Zé Carlos, Vasco Sousa and Fábio Carvalho left. Enter, in addition to Pedro Neto, Gonçalo Tabuaço, Alexandre Penetra, Tomás Esteves, Tomás Araújo, Dani Silva and Samuel Costa. Gonçalo Inácio is among the names called by Roberto Martínez to the main team.
From this list, note Tomás Araújo, defender loaned by Benfica to Gil Vicente, as well as midfielder Dani Silva, from V. Guimarães. They are the two athletes in this group of 23 who have not yet had any under-21 caps.
Portugal will face Romania next Friday, March 24 (17h00 in mainland Portugal), in Bucharest, in the first of two friendlies. Four days later, on March 28 (19:00), the Portuguese team receives Norway in Póvoa de Varzim.
These are the first two under-21 games in 2023, which take place with a view to the European Championship to be played in Romania and Georgia, from June 21 to July 8.
Portugal is in Group A with Georgia, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Under-21 squads:Goalkeeper: Celton Biai (Vitória SC), Gonçalo Tabuaço (B SAD) and Samuel Soares (SL Benfica);Defenses: Alexandre Penetra (Famalicão), André Amaro (Vitória SC), Leonardo Lelo (Casa Pia), Nuno Tavares (Marseille), Pedro Malheiro (Boavista FC), Tomás Esteves (Pisa 1909) and Tomás Araújo (Gil Vicente);Medium: Afonso Sousa (Lech Poznan), Daniel Silva (Vitória SC), David Costa (Lens), André Almeida (Valencia), Fábio Vieira (Arsenal), Paulo Bernardo (Paços de Ferreira), Samuel Costa (Almeria) and Tiago Dantas (PAOK );Advanced: Fábio Silva (PSV Eindhoven), Francisco Conceição (Ajax), Henrique Araújo (Watford), Pedro Neto (Wolverhampton) and Vítor Oliveira (Marseille).
