- Title: Ronaldo and Felix named in Portugal squad for Euro qualifiers
- Date: 29th August 2019
- Summary: OEIRAS, PORTUGAL (AUGUST 29, 2019) (REUTERS) SCREEN SHOWING IN ORDER FORWARDS, BERNARDO SILVA (Manchester City), DANIEL PODENCE (Olympiakos), GONCALO GUEDES (Valencia), RAFA SILVA (Benfica), CRISTIANO RONALDO (Juventus), DIOGO JOTA (Wolverhampton), JOAO FELIX (Atletico Madrid) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PORTUGAL MANAGER, FERNANDO SANTOS, SAYING: "We are again in that stage where we need to win those six matches obviously with great respect for our opponents because we can only win respecting our direct opponents in the qualification but we only have one thing in mind is to win these six matches to be top of the group in the end and that is what we want." SCREEN SHOWING IN ORDER DEFENDERS, JOAO CANCELO (Manchester City), NELSON SEMEDO (Barcelona), DANIEL CARRICO (Sevilla), JOSE FONTE (Lille), PEPE (Porto), RUBEN DIAS (Benfica), MARIO RUI (Napoli), RAPHAEL GUERREIRO (Dortmund) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PORTUGAL MANAGER, FERNANDO SANTOS, SAYING: "I always said that we have here one player uncontestable in the national team, while he stays at his levels and he is Cristiano Ronaldo but he is uncontestable in any team in the world, Portugal, Germany, Spain, France, England, Italy, all the others are players that when are called it's because the national manager feels that they have potential to play in the national team. It's not because the transfer was too high or too low that will make the difference, if he (Joao Felix) is here, it's because he has the same conditions of the others to play for the national team but in the end that will be my decision." SCREEN SHOWING IN ORDER MIDFIELDERS, DANILO PEREIRA (Porto), RUBEN NEVES (Wolverhampton), WILLIAM CARVALHO (Real Betis), BRUNO FERNANDES (Sporting Lisbon), JOAO MOUTINHO (Wolverhampton), PIZZI (Benfica), RENATO SANCHES (Lille) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PORTUGAL MANAGER, FERNANDO SANTOS, SAYING: "This is a very decisive match for Serbia we know that, they are playing at home we know, we know the weight and influence of their fans but like I said before after two draws Portugal has to win the six matches and that is the way." SCREEN SHOWING GOALKEEPERS, BETO (Goztepe), JOSE SA (Olympiakos), RUI PATRICIO (Wolverhampton) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PORTUGAL MANAGER, FERNANDO SANTOS, SAYING: "After two draws there's not much to talk about. We can't say anything is decisive, Portugal will not depend on these two matches but if we want to be top of the group, yes it's very important, no doubts about it." SANTOS LEAVING
- Embargoed: 12th September 2019 15:45
- Keywords: Portugal Euro 2020 Fernando Santos Cristiano Ronaldo
- Location: OEIRAS, PORTUGAL
- City: OEIRAS, PORTUGAL
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA001AU9V6M7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Portugal manager Fernando Santos on Thursday (August 29) named his squad for crucial upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers away to Serbia on September 7 and Lithuania three days later.
After starting their qualifying campaign with consecutive draws at home to Ukraine and Serbia, the defending European champions find themselves fourth in Group B, some eight points behind the Ukrainians, who have played two games more.
Santos has called on his players to win all six of their remaining qualifiers to qualify top.
While stating a player like Cristiano Ronaldo's place in the squad remains "uncontestable", Santos said that a player's transfer price tag has no bearing over his decision to call them up to represent Portugal.
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