Coach Martinez decided to remove Ronaldo from the Portugal Team list because he wanted him to have more time to rest with his family after the recent stressful match schedule.
Ronaldo was absent from the match against Team Sweden. (Source: Getty Images)
Coach Roberto Martinez removed superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from the shortlist of 24 Portuguese players preparing for the friendly match with Sweden on March 21.
Previously, Ronaldo was on the preliminary list of 32 players to participate in the FIFA Days March friendly match series.
According to ESPN, Coach Martinez decided to eliminate Ronaldo because he wanted him to have more time to rest with his family after the recent stressful match schedule.
In addition to Ronaldo, many other important players of the Portuguese Team were also absent from this match, including Diogo Dalot, Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Otavio, Ruben Neves, Vitinha and Joao Felix.
After the match against Sweden, the Portuguese Team will have a match against Slovenia on March 26. However, the possibility of Ronaldo returning in this match is still open.
Two friendly matches in March of the Portuguese Team are part of the preparation plan for the EURO 2024 Finals held in Germany (starting in June 2024).
At the tournament in Germany, Portugal is in the same group as the Czech Republic, Turkey and the winner of the play-off round (which will be Georgia, Luxembourg, Greece or Kazakhstan)./.
