Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric, former Real Madrid teammates, continue to serve their national teams at, respectively, 39 and 38 years of age and will lead Portugal today Robert Martinez and Croatia in Da Luz at the start of the Nations League.
Despite their cautious Euro Cup, where they lost in the quarterfinals against France on penalties, Cristiano Ronaldo He didn’t consider hanging up his boots, unlike Pepewho on August 8 announced his retirement a few weeks after the German tournament.
Euro Cup disappointments
Croatia fared worse in the Eurocup, crashing out in the group stage, finishing third behind Spain and Italy. A disappointing performance in contrast to the national team’s third place finish Zlatko Dalic They secured the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the runners-up spot in the Nations League in June 2023 after losing the final against Spain on penalties in Rotterdam (0-0 and 4-5). Portugal won the Nations League in 2019.
Roberto Martinez, Portugal coach, has all his figures, like Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Félix, Diogo Jota, Vitinha or Rafael Leaoassured yesterday that his players were “eager” to return to the pitch after the Euro Cup and promised that they would play “on the attack”.
Returning to the Euro Cup, Robert Martinez He highlighted that his team did “very well in many aspects. We gave everything, we showed personality. Now we have to improve.”
The extreme Geovany Quende, At 17 years and 4 months, he could dethrone Paulo Futre within 2 months as the youngest player to play for Portugal, if Roberto Marínez gives this young Sporting talent some minutes. His teammate and former Barcelona player. Francisco Trincao, will return the call.
Possible lineups
Da Luz, 8:45 pm
Portugal: Diogo Costa; Dalot, Rúben Dias, Antonio Silva, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, Palhinha; Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Rafael Leao; Cristiano Ronaldo
Instructor: Roberto Martínez
The
Croatia: Livakovic; Pongracic, Sutalo, Gvardiol, Borna Sosa; Modric, Sucic, Kovacic; Pasalic, Kramaric, Ivanusec
Coach: Zlatko Dalic
The
Referee: Halil Umut Meler (Turkey)
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
