Al Nasr forward Cristiano Ronaldo will play no part in Portugal’s Nations League game against Croatia tonight at Stadion Poljud in Split.
The Portuguese forward, along with a number of teammates, was sent home early from the training camp in order to allow room for the younger faces in the squad to see minutes on the pitch.
“In the first stage, we made six changes from one game to the next“, Martínez argued, “it’s important for us to be first, and we already are. We need to be competitive to add to the group, it’s getting harder and harder to get into the starting eleven. There’s a World Cup finals in 18 months.
Four players left Portugal camp early
“The game against Croatia is important, we need to look at other players. We’re going to let go of Bernardo Silva, Pedro Neto, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes, who is suspended. We’re going to call up Fábio Silva and Quenda for the Under-21s.”
Despite his age (39) and doubts surrounding his performances at Euro 2024, Ronaldo is in impressive form this year for club and countryand scored twice in Portugal’s recent win over Poland, taking his tally for the season up to 15 goals.
However, seeing as Portugal are already qualified as group leaders and Croatia are through (as it’s head to head, not goal difference), Martínez saw rest as the preferred option for certain players in the squad. Luka Modric is still with the Croatia squad and is expected to play.
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