Roberto Martinez’s first choice with Ronaldo as top doubt

On Friday, Roberto Martinez announced his first line-up as a Portuguese football manager, and names like captain Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafa raise some doubts about the Spanish manager’s choice.

Announced in January as the successor to Fernando Santos in charge of the Kinas team, two months later the 49-year-old coach will present his first options on a list in which he himself has already explained that he will be based on participation in the last World Cup, which took place at the end of last years in Qatar.

However, some surprises are poised to happen on Martinez’s roster, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s succession at the height of doubt, although all indications are that the captain will continue with the “corners” on his chest.

The 38-year-old forward lost his starting place at the last World Cup after expressing his dissatisfaction with the situation and abandoned top-level football for Saudi Arabia.

Eliminating the most historic Portuguese player (the record holder for caps and goals) would be a risky but also a bold move by Martinez at the start of this new cycle, but Ronaldo’s name should feature in his selection.

After announcing that he can’t represent the national team even under Fernando Santos, Rafa may change his mind with the arrival of Roberto Martinez at a time when he is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career at Benfica.

Despite his age (40), Pepe should remain at this early stage with Portugal and Diogo Jota, who missed the 2022 World Cup with injury, will be able to return to qualifying.

With no representatives in the squad that attended the World Cup in Qatar, Sporting could once again “borrow” national team players, and names like Goncalo Inácio, Pedro Gonçalves and Nuno Santos entered the equation.

In addition, players such as Diogo Costa and Rui Patricio in goal, Rubén Dias, António Silva, Danilo, João Cancelo and Rafael Guerreiro in defence, Paligna, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, João Mario and Vitinha in midfield, and Goncalo Ramos , Rafael Leao and Joao Felix in attack should have a guaranteed place.

In the Group J debut of Euro 2024 qualifiers in Germany, Portugal will take on Liechtenstein on 23 March at the José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon, before playing in Luxembourg three days later.

The group also includes Iceland, Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Roberto Martinez was chosen by the Portuguese Football Federation to replace Fernando Santos, who left his post after the World Cup in Qatar, in which the national team reached the quarterfinals.

Santos has led the team since 2014, winning Euro 2016 and the first Nations League in 2019.

Martinez spent the last six years in the Belgian national team, becoming a semi-finalist and taking third place at the 2018 World Cup, which was held in Russia.

Prior to that, the Spanish coach spent his entire career in English football, in which he commanded Everton, Wigan and Swansea City.