Paul Roger, Media365: Published on Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 3:48 p.m.
Like seven other Portuguese players, Cristiano Ronaldo has been excused from participating in the Seleção's friendly match against Sweden on Thursday evening in Guimaraes. A choice by coach Roberto Martinez, who will be missing eight players in this first match. And the Portuguese agree.
This is a novelty introduced by Roberto Martinez. Appointed at the helm of the Portuguese national team in January 2023, the 50-year-old Spanish technician, author of complete success in Euro qualifiers, has decided to keep 32 players for this international break, with two friendlies on the programme: Thursday. Evening in Guimarães against Sweden, then five days later against Slovenia in Ljubljana. 23 players are selected to play the first match, and the second. Eight players will not play the match against Sweden, not leastWhere the leader will not only be Cristiano Ronaldo, the record holder of goals (128) and selections (205), like the Parisians Vitinha and Danilo Pereira, but also Joao Felix, Joao Cancelo, Diogo Dalot, Ruben Neves and Otavio. Martinez explained this last week in a press conference.
Bruno Fernandes: “He's very smart”
“March is very difficult for the players. There are a lot of games and mental fatigue and we have to manage that aspect. There are three groups: players who can participate in both matches, then one group for the first match and another for the second. It's about the minutes played, the condition of each player, what they did during the qualifiers, and it also depends on what we want to work on tactically. “The goal is to prioritize quality and have a chance to avoid fatigue,” explained the Belgian coach. An innovation that seems to have tempted Portuguese players. CR7, who still wants to play everything despite being 39 years old, does not (officially) complain about it, while his teammates claim to support it. “It is very smart of him to try to manage the group, because there is a risk of injury.” “, Bruno Fernandes confirmed to the media.
