Portugal Squad includes Ronaldo for World Cup Qualifiers

Portugal squad has named Cristiano Ronaldo for the World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.

Fernando Santos declared a 25-man squad for the game against Ireland at the Estádio Algarve on September 1st as well as the friendly match against Qatar in Hungary and a qualifier in Azerbaijan.

Ronaldo has suffered an arm injury during a training session with Juventus, he has been linked with a move to Manchester City.

The legend requires one more goal for Portugal to become the all-time leading goal scorer in international football, taking the lead from Iran’s Ali Daei.

The ex-European champions have included Premier League players in their squad with Diogo Jota, Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, and Ricardo Pereira.

📝 Esta é a nossa equipa para os jogos de setembro! 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘴, 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘨𝘢𝘭! 🇵🇹 #VamosComTudo #TeamPortugal pic.twitter.com/D7x82Zbhpf

— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) August 26, 2021

Lille midfielder Renato Sanches, who made his presence noticed in the Euro 2020 is ruled out through injury with Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix.

Fernando Santos said: “The Euros was not what we wanted, but there were positive things.

“We have to rectify some things and keep what we did well.

“We only depend on us to reach the World Cup, each of these games is extremely important.

“The Irish team played an excellent game in Serbia so you have to respect your opponent a lot.

“Ireland works a lot, fights a lot. If we’re not at our best level, we could have problems.”

The Team includes:

Goalkeepers: Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Diogo Costa (Porto), Rui Patrício (Roma).

Defenders: João Cancelo (Manchester City), Ricardo Pereira (Leicester), Domingos Duarte (Granada), Gonçalo Inácio (Sporting Lisbon), Pepe (Porto), Rúben Dias (Manchester City), Nuno Mendes (Sporting Lisbon), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund), Danilo (PSG).

Midfielders: João Palhinha (Sporting Lisbon), Rúben Neves (Wolves), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), João Mário (Porto), João Moutinho (Wolves), Octávio (Porto), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), André Silva (Leipzig).

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Gonçalo Guedes (Valencia), Pedro Gonçalves (Sporting Lisbon) Rafa (Benfica).