Defender Pepe has been ruled out of the Portugal national team squad due to injury and will miss the matches against Liechtenstein and Iceland in the Euro2024 qualifying phase, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) announced on Sunday.
“The player suffered a muscle injury during FC Porto’s match in Guimarães on Saturday and is unable to contribute in Portugal’s matches with Liechtenstein and Iceland,” read the statement published on the FPF’s official website published.
According to the same note, national coach “Roberto Martínez will not call another player to replace Pepe”, so the Portuguese squad now consists of 25 players, instead of 26.
Pepe was injured during the second half of FC Porto’s I Liga match with Vitória de Guimarães on Saturday and was eventually replaced by Fábio Cardoso in the 67th minute.
This is the second ‘victim’ of the Portuguese team in a few hours, because on Saturday the FPF announced the release of Nélson Semedo, also due to injury, with the Wolverhampton full-back being replaced in the options by Raphaël Guerreiro, from Bayern Munich.
Rafael Leão is in doubt, and it is expected that he will also be released from the work of the ‘quinas’ team, due to the muscle injury in his right thigh that he suffered on Saturday during the meeting with Lecce in the Italian league.
The meeting of the 25 players called up by coach Roberto Martínez is scheduled for Monday, in the late afternoon, at Cidade do Futebol, in Oeiras.
The national team will play against Liechtenstein on Thursday at 7.45 pm (Lisbon time) in Vaduz and three days later at the same time against Iceland in the José Alvalade Stadium.
Portugal leads Group J, with 24 points, eight more than second-placed Slovakia, with Luxembourg, third, with 11. Iceland is fourth, with 10 points, ahead of Bosnia-Herzegovina, with nine, and Liechtenstein, last, without any points.
Updated list of 25 players:
– Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa (FC Porto), José Sá (Wolverhampton, Ing) and Rui Patrício (Roma, Ita).
– Defenders: Diogo Dalot (Manchester United, England), Raphaël Guerreiro (Bayern Munich, Ale), João Cancelo (FC Barcelona, Esp), Rúben Dias (Manchester City, England), António Silva (Benfica), Toti Gomes ( Wolverhampton, Ing) and Gonçalo Inácio (Sporting).
– Midfielders: Palhinha (Fulham, Ing), João Neves (Benfica), Rúben Neves (Al-Hilal, Ara), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Ing), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United, Ing), Otávio (Al Nassr, Ara ), Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain, Fra) and Matheus Nunes (Manchester City, England).
– Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr, Ara), Gonçalo Ramos (Paris Saint-Germain, Fra), João Félix (FC Barcelona, Esp), Rafael Leão (AC Milan, Ita), Diogo Jota (Liverpool, Ing) , Ricardo Horta (Sporting de Braga) and Bruma (Sporting de Braga).
Source: DN
