Cristiano Ronaldo has been named in Roberto Martinez’s squad for Portugal’s
upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers.
It will be the first games for Martinez since taking over the helm of Portugal.
Fernando Santos left the international hot seat following their quarter-final exit at
the 2022 World Cup.
Ronaldo’s international future will offer more opportunities to see the superstar in
Europe, after the 38-year-old’s big-money move to Al-Nassr late last year.
Ronaldo has 196 international caps, the joint-most in men’s football. He also scored
118 goals in a Portugal shirt to date, with further opportunities to add to that tally
this month. This is despite turning 38 last month.
Martinez told reporters: ‘Cristiano Ronaldo is a very committed player. He can bring
experience and is a very important figure for the team. I don’t look at age.’
Martinez’s Portugal host Liechtenstein on Thursday March 23, before a trip to
Luxembourg three days later. The other teams in Group J are Iceland, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and Slovakia.
Read Also:Cristiano Ronaldo: Portugal forward makes competitive debut in Al Nassr win
Euro 2024 takes place across ten German cities in the summer after the conclusion of
next season.
At the World Cup, Ronaldo was dropped from Portugal’s starting line-up for their
knockout fixtures, which worked in their last-16 tie against Switzerland, but saw
them fall at the next hurdle to Morocco.
Benfica forward Goncalo Ramos, who replaced Ronaldo for those crunch fixtures, is
also in Martinez’s squad.
Liverpool’s Diogo Jota and Chelsea loanee Joao Felix have also been selected.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr started off well, with some critical goals to secure
valuable wins, but has since flagged a little.
He was notably frustrated during his first league defeat Al-Ittihad, and kicked a
cluster of water bottles as he left the pitch following the match, which saw Al-Nassr
drop to second in the table.
