Portugal’s coach, the Spanish Roberto Martínez, will do without Cristiano Ronaldo and the Barcelona players João Félix and João Cancelo for the friendly match against Sweden, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) reported this Monday.
It’s a statement, The Portuguese Federation announced that both the Portuguese captain and the FC Barcelona players will only join the squad “at the beginning of preparation for the match against Slovenia”, which will be played on the 26th in Ljubljana.
For the clash against the Swedish team, which will be played this Thursday in the Portuguese city of Guimarães, Martínez has also left out the other two players who are active in Saudi ArabiaOtávio and Rubén Neves, as well as Danilo and Vitinha, both from PSG, and Diogo Dalot, from Manchester United.
It is a choice that the Spanish coach himself explained last Friday when announcing the call, because March, according to Martínez, “It is a very difficult period for the players,” with “many games, a lot of mental fatigue.”
This month onlyCristiano has played 390 minutes in four games with Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr, while Félix is coming off a demanding game at the Cívitas Metropolitano, where he scored the first goal in Barça’s 0-3 victory against “his” Atlético de Madrid.
In a press conference held this Monday at the Ciudad del Fútbol complex in Oeiras, on the outskirts of Lisbon, Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes stated that “it is smart to try to manage fatigue”, but that there is “ambition to win both matches”. matches”.
In doubt for the parties are the former Barça Francisco Trincão and Raphael Guerreiro, who according to the FPF “They are being evaluated” by the team’s medical team after injuries suffered in the last games of their teams, Sporting and Bayern Munich, respectively.
Cristiano comes from improving his numbers in Saudi Arabia
Cristiano equaled his best scoring record since the 2020/21 season, in which he also scored 36 goals with the Juventus shirt. In the following two years he added 27 at Manchester United and 14 in his first year at Al-Ahli. This Friday he equaled his best numbers to give his team the victory.
Al-Nassr faced the third in the standings with the objective of adding three points to get closer to the leader, Al-Hilal, 12 points away before the start of the match and with a firm step towards the title.
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