“CR7” continues to be an important member of the Portuguese national team despite leaving Manchester United.
He is still the center of attention. Even though he has been relegated to a supporting role with the club for the current campaign, Cristiano Ronaldo is still considered “important” for the Portuguese national team, which will play the Czech Republic in Prague at 8:45 p.m. local time on the penultimate day of the League of Nations.
The 37-year-old striker, who began his professional career in 2002 and has become accustomed to steadily piling on the minutes and goals since then, will now be required to make do with a role as a substitute for Manchester United.
Only three of the ten games that the Red Devils have played during the 2022-2023 fiscal year have seen the player who has won the Ballon d’Or a record-tying five times appear in the starting lineup. Marcus Rashford, an English international player, is the player who his Dutch coach Erik ten Hag loves to line up in his position instead of him.
“CR7” suffers a decline in his statistics as a result of his habit of starting games from the bench. It wasn’t until the previous week that he finally scored his first goal of the season. It was a penalty kick that he scored on the lawn of the unassuming Moldovan team Sheriff Tiraspol (in a 2-0 victory) in the Europa League. This was one of the few matches that Ronaldo has started this season.
However, despite having a limited amount of playing time, he is considered the best in Portugal. Everyone, beginning with coach Fernando Santos, is keeping their fingers crossed for him.
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“Also at the Euro”
When he announced his roster for the final two Nations League matches, which were against the Czech Republic and the Czech Republic, the 67-year-old coach said, “I don’t think anyone doubts that Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be important for the selection.” “I don’t think anyone doubts that Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be important for the selection.” ‘Spain.
The superstar always seems to have priority at the forefront of the Portuguese attack in his coach’s thoughts, and this can be seen starting from the top of his 189 choices up to and notably with his 117 goals, which set a world record.
As evidence of this, the name of André Silva, who plays center forward for RB Leipzig, is not listed among those who have been chosen to participate in the final gathering before the World Cup 2022, which will take place in Qatar from November 20 to December 18.
Only after the unexpected announcement on Monday that Benfica midfielder Rafa Silva would be retiring from international competition did Fernando Santos ask for a number nine. Rafa Silva was replaced by youthful Eagles striker Goncalo Ramos, for whom this is the first call to the national team.
Ronaldo, for his part, does not try to hide the fact that he wants to continue the experience with his national team at least until the Euro 2024 tournament, which will take place when he will be close to becoming 40 years old.
“My travels have not yet come to an end. ‘You are going to have to support Cris for some time to come,’ the Funchal native said on Tuesday when he was presented with the Quinas de Ouro prize by the Portuguese Football Federation for being the top scorer among the selections. The prize is given to the player who has scored the most goals for his team (FPF).
“I want to be present at the World Cup (2022) and also at the Euro (2024) I already assume it (…) my goal is huge”, he added. “I want to be present at the World Cup (2022) and also at the Euro (2024) I already assume it.”
See also: Cristiano Ronaldo wants to compete in the Euro 2024 tournament. Read more about this here.
“He is exceptional”
“CR7” does not appear content, even though he has already competed in nine big tournaments with Brazil’s national team.
In a similar vein, he does not appear to be willing to make way for the next generation, which is exemplified in particular by the striker for AC Milan, Rafael Leao, even though he acknowledges the importance of integrating “a selection made up of many young players with an outstanding potential.”
Ruben Neves, a midfielder for Wolverhampton, was questioned on Thursday about his captain’s words and did not appear surprised by them.
“In a way, we already knew it for his way of working, his involvement, each time he is called up for selection he is exceptional (…) he will be more than ready for these competitions,” the player, who is 25 years old, affirmed. “In a way, we already knew it for his way of working, his involvement, each time he is called up for selection he is exceptional.”
Portugal is now in second place in their group, one point behind Spain. If they want to keep their prospects alive of making it to the Final Four, they will need to earn points in the Czech Republic this weekend. On Tuesday, they will play their neighbor from Spain.
Given these circumstances, the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is capable of scoring goals could end up being the deciding factor, given that Portugal appears to be struggling in this area without him.
In June, the team that won the European Championship in 2016 did not have him and ended up losing to Switzerland by a score of 1-0. Despite having multiple opportunities to score, they were unable to do so.
For the time being, the Selecao have not been able to find a substitute for their former star player, whose natural knack for scoring goals has helped him amass an astounding total of 816 accomplishments during his professional career.