Good news for Croatia: Portugal arrives at Poljud without Ronaldo and three other first-team players
Portugal has already secured first place in the Nations League group, so they will play in Split on Monday against Croatia without four standard players, including captain Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese coach said on Friday evening.
“The match with Croatia is very important to us, but we need to refresh the players, preserve them in November. Therefore, we will leave out four players. We’ll leave it out Bernard Silva, Pedro Neto, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Bruno Fernandes andanother yellow card”, said coach Roberto Martinez at a press conference in Porto.
Portugal beat Poland there with 5-1, securing first place in the group with 13 points. Croatia has 7 points, while Scotland and Portugal have 4 points each.
“It is important for us to be first in the group, we are, and now we want to increase the competition in the team. It’s getting harder and harder to get into the starting lineup because in 18 months we’re entering the final stage of the World Cup”Martinez said.
He said that he introduced “four new players” during the first national team meeting in September, and “five or six” during the second one in October, so on Monday at the Poljud Stadium “continue on the same path”.
“We will certainly continue on that path. Nothing will be different compared to what we have done so far”he said.
Croatia lost 0:1 in Scotland on Friday night. The match with Portugalthe last in the group stage of the competition, is important for her to stay in second place in the group. The first and second places lead to the quarterfinals of the League of Nations, which will be played in March.
In front of their fans in Porto, Portugal played the first half with Poland 0:0, but continued to celebrate with a high score of 5:1.
“We played badly in the first half. We weren’t finding spaces, we weren’t precise, it was frustrating. In the second, we played more intensively and were coordinated. That second half is really what Portugal is like.” Martinez noted.
Goals were scored by Rafael Leao in the 59th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo in the 72nd from the penalty spot, Bruno Fernandes in the 80th, Pedro Neto in the 83rd and Ronaldo again in the 87th. The defeat of the Poles was softened by Dominik Marczuk in the 88th minute.
The Portuguese will arrive in Split on Sunday, and the coach Martinez decided that even three scorers from the match with Poland – Ronaldo, Fernandes and Nieto – will not go on the trip.
He praised the remaining scorer, the 25-year-old winger Lea. “He improved a lot and matured after this summer’s European Championship. Today he showed what he is, one of the best players in the world in open space and in one-on-one situations.” said the selector.
He said that defender Tiago Djalo, who was not among the 23 players for the match with Poland, will travel to Croatia. Also members of the youth national team up to 21 years of age, forward Fabio Silva and right winger Geovany Quenda.
