The national team is already in Lisbon on Saturday, after the elimination of the World Cup, against Morocco. The plane landed around 5:40 PM, with only 14 players returning as part of the entourage.
At the airport of Humberto Delgado several dozen people were waiting for the players.
Pepe thanked the supporters for their reception, but regretted that the World Cup had ended early for Portugal: “It’s always good to thank everyone. Unfortunately, we didn’t achieve the goal we wanted. We tried to give everything to us country,” he said, without confirming whether this was his last World Cup.
The 39-year-old centre-back also declined to comment on whether this outcome could dictate Fernando Santos’ departure: “I’m a player, I don’t need to talk about it. I haven’t felt anything like it.” “I’m not going down that road. Don’t give more to these people because maybe we didn’t deserve to leave the way we left. But it’s football. There are those things. We have to learn from what happened so that the future is better for us,” he said, also leaving a word to Ronaldo: “Okay. It’s our Portuguese flag. It reaches all over the world. He gave us his contribution when he was called coach.”
According to the Portuguese Football Federation, Rui Patrício, Raphaël Guerreiro, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Leão, Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Nunes, Rúben Neves, Bernardo Silva, João Cancelo and Diogo Dalot were allowed to join their respective families in Qatar.
Diogo Costa, José Sá, Pepe, Rúben Dias, António Silva, Palhinha, William Carvalho, Otávio, Vitinha, João Mário, Gonçalo Ramos, André Silva, Ricardo Horta and João Félix traveled to Lisbon.
Danilo Pereira and Nuno Mendes, who were also part of the national team in Qatar, had already left the concentration this week and returned to Paris Saint-Germain to continue treatment for their respective injuries.
Portugal was excluded from the 2022 World Cup on Saturday and lost 1-0 to Morocco in the quarter-finals through a goal from Youssef El-Nesyri.
In the semifinals, Morocco will meet reigning world champions France on Wednesday, which also eliminated England on Saturday, and Croatia will meet Argentina on Tuesday.
The 2022 World Cup final is scheduled for December 18 at Estádio de Lusail.
Source: DN
