UEFA Euro 2024: Portugal’s new coach, Roberto Martinez is all praise for the Al Nassr player, Cristiano Ronaldo. Ahead of their UEFA Euro qualifiers matches against Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, the coach has selected a team of senior players and has kept his full faith in Ronaldo. He even implied that the superstar can help them recreate Portugal’s Euro 2016 glory in next year’s Euro competition. Follow Euro Qualifiers LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
After Portugal’s disastrous campaign in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, their coach Fernando Santos was sacked and so was Belgium’s ex-coach Roberto Martinez following Belgium’s group stage exit from the 2022 World Cup. Roberto Martinez was then appointed to the role of Portugal’s coach as he promised to bring the glory back to Portugal in Euro 2024 and then the 2026 World Cup.
He is quite confident of his plans and as a result, he even agreed to receive a reduced pay-off amount if he fails to lead Portugal to the Euro 2024 semi-finals and then is sacked following that. His first step towards achieving such glory is making up a squad of senior players which even includes the 40-year-old defender, Pepe. Even though his aging Belgium squad failed to even qualify for the group stages, he is still keeping faith in similar strategies.
He has spoken to every Portugal player individually including Ronaldo and gained their trust ahead of their Euro qualifiers matches. For the Spanish Super Cup match, Martinez flew to Riyadh and met with Ronaldo over dinner and explained to him his plans. He assured the Al Nassr striker that he will remain to be an important part of the coach’s plan.
When asked about Ronalso’s inclusion into the team, Martinez said, “Cristiano is a player who is completely committed to the national team. I don’t look at age or other aspects. He has the chance to help the team and pass on his experience to other players.”
Cristiano Ronaldo, called up by Portugal new coach Roberto Martinez for the next UEFA qualifiers 🇵🇹 #Portugal
“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 says. pic.twitter.com/0Q9wVTUfUV
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 17, 2023
The previous Portugal coach, Santos benched Ronaldo in 2 matches during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. following Manchester United boss, Erik Ten Hag. Ten Hag was tired of the striker’s negative influence in and around the dressing room, mood swings, and rash interviews, so the player was let go from Manchester United.
Ronaldo’s luck did not get better in the World Cup as he did not get much playing time there either. In the little time, he played in Portugal’s quarter-final clash against Morocco, he did not make any difference to the result and they were knocked out. However, it seems that Martinez has big plans for Ronaldo as he believes the 38-year-old can bring Portugal back to their glory days.
