Another player withdraws from the Portugal squad

Fernando Santos has been hit with yet another injury concern, having already had a number of players out of contention.

Attacking regulars of Rafa Silva, Goncalo Guedes and Joao Felix were all omitted from the Portugal squad as a result of injuries, while central midfielder William Carvalho, who has been so crucial for the national team under the management of Fernando Santos, is also out, having missed the last two qualifying matches through injury.

Andre Gomes was also unavailable after his horrific leg break at club level against Tottenham Hotspur, while Rafa’s Benfica teammate Ferro suffered a knock in the Champions League, ruling him out of international duty.

While all those players were left out of the squad entirely, Portugal suffered two further injury setbacks later on, with both Porto centreback Pepe and Barcelona right back Nelson Semedo picking up injuries with their respective clubs having already been included in Santos’ squad.

Replacements for both have been called up, Granada centreback Domingos Duarte coming in for Pepe, and Manchester City summer signing Joao Cancelo filling in for Nelson.

Portugal have seen yet another of their players get injured though, this time Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Joao Mario, who is unavailable for both Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Cristiano Ronaldo also remains a doubt for Portugal’s opener against Lithuania this Friday.