Euro 2024: Cristiano Ronaldo captains Portugal as Roberto Martinez confirms 26-man squad
Roberto Martinez has confirmed the 26-man squad for the Portugal national team ahead of the UEFA Euro 2024, which lists Cristiano Ronaldo as the captain. The 50-year-old Spanish manager took over as head coach in January 2023, replacing Fernando Santos.
Roberto Martinez's first game in charge took place on March 23, 2023, in a 4-0 home win over Liechtenstein at Estádio José Alvalade in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers. Later in September 2023, he led Portugal to their biggest victory in international history by defeating Luxembourg 9–0 at home.
Martinez's squad was one of the first European sides to advance from qualifying into the UEFA Euro 2024 after their 3-2 win over Slovakia, which also marked their quickest qualification to a major tournament.
Portugal's Euro 2024 squad includes both veterans and young talents. For goalkeepers, Roberto Martinez named Diogo Costa (Porto), José Sá (Wolverhampton Wanderers), and Patrício (Roma).
The defense includes António Silva (Benfica), Danilo Pereira (Paris Saint-Germain), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Gonçalo Inácio (Sporting CP), João Cancelo (Manchester City), Nélson Semedo (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), Pepe (Porto), and Rúben Dias (Manchester City).
Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), João Neves (Benfica), João Palhinha (Fulham), Otávio (Al Nassr), Rúben Neves (Al Hilal), and Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain) are in charge of the midfield.
For attackers, Roberto Martinez has chosen Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Francisco Conceição (Porto), Gonçalo Ramos (Paris Saint-Germain), João Félix (Atlético Madrid), Pedro Neto (Wolverhampton Wanderers), and Rafael Leão (AC Milan).
In the qualification campaign, Roberto Martinez's squad overtook the record for most scored and least scored against in a qualifying campaign in the country's history. With a record of 36 goals scored and only two goals conceded, they also maintained nine clean sheets in the process.
Portugal became one of the few European national teams to win all of their matches for the qualifiers of the UEFA European Championship, with ten wins from ten matches, which is the first time in their international history.
Patrick Berger believes Portugal have a great chance of winning the Euros if Cristiano Ronaldo is used regularly as a substitute
Former Liverpool midfielder Patrick Berger has said that Portugal's chances of winning the European Championships this summer will increase if they use Cristiano Ronaldo from the bench.
Ronaldo is Portugal and international men's football's all-time top scorer with 128 goals. He played a key role in their successful UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, bagging 10 goals and two assists in nine games.
Patrick Berger told BoyleSports (via GOAL) that because of his age, Cristiano Ronaldo could have a greater impact off the bench, elaborating:
"His age is still a factor, even if he is one of the very best footballers of all time. But, he is 39. I actually thought that he shouldn't have been starting at the World Cup just over 18 months ago. I thought he would have been better off coming from the bench for the last 20 or 25 minutes."
"He will always create chances. It doesn't matter if it is in 90 minutes or the last 25. It would have been better for the whole team in Qatar, but with his ego and stuff like that, it makes it hard to drop him. If he starts against the Czech Republic at Euro 2024, I would be happy," Berger added.
Patrick Berger mentioned that Portugal's squad is good enough even without Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting XI and concluded:
"I think they have such a great team Portugal and can win the entire tournament, even without Ronaldo in the starting XI. They have a much bigger chance if he doesn't play every single game from the start. If he's on the bench, I would be more concerned. I think if they had done that in Qatar, they could have got as far as the final."
Portugal open their Euro 2024 campaign against the Czech Republic on June 18. Turkey and Georgia are the other teams in their group.