Credit: X
Portugal are scheduled to play their final friendly match ahead of the UEFA Euro 2024 as they are slated to face Ireland at the Aveiro Municipal Stadium on Tuesday night. Ahead of the clash, Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez provided a major update on Cristiano Ronaldo and other stars, who missed the previous game against Croatia.
Portugal without their captain Cristiano Ronaldo suffered a 1-2 loss against Croatia as Luka Modric and Anta Budimir scored for their side while Diogo Jota found the back of the net for the home side.
Ahead of their last training session, Roberto Martinez talked about Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, and Ruben Neves at a press conference in Lisbon on Monday, and said, "They will play tomorrow. The plan is to have minutes, I don't know how many, we need training to know. Until after training I don't know if they will be starters. But Pepe, Cristiano and Ruben will have minutes."
He added, "Players need to play minutes, have connections, enjoy the game, work on collective concepts. Ireland has a competitive capacity that is good for us because the tactical structure is similar to that of Georgia, for example."
While Martinez praised five-time Ballon d'Or winner's fitness at the age of 39, he claimed that club level data differs from the national team's level. He said, "Cristiano had 51 games, he had no problem playing them all, but the data at club level is not the same at national team level. He showed that he can play every four days but we evaluate that in real time during the tournament."
