Cristiano Ronaldo has been named in the Portugal squad for the World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland despite an injury scare this week.
Fernando Santos has announced a 25-man squad for the game against Ireland at the Estádio Algarve on September 1st as well as the friendly against Qatar in Hungary and a qualifier away to Azerbaijan.
Ronaldo, who has been linked with a move to Manchester City, suffered a blow to his arm during a training session with Juventus on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old only needs one more goal for Portugal to become the all-time leading goalscorer in international football ahead of Iran's Ali Daei.
The former European champions have a host of Premier League players in their squad with Diogo Jota, Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, and Ricardo Pereira all included.
Lille midfielder Renato Sanches, who impressed at Euro 2020 is ruled out through injury along with Atletico Madrid's Joao Felix.
📝 Esta é a nossa equipa para os jogos de setembro! 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘴, 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘨𝘢𝘭! 🇵🇹 #VamosComTudo #TeamPortugal pic.twitter.com/D7x82Zbhpf
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) August 26, 2021
Fernando Santos said: "The Euros was not what we wanted, but there were positive things.
"We have to rectify some things and keep what we did well.
"We only depend on us to reach the World Cup, each of these games is extremely important.
"The Irish team played an excellent game in Serbia so you have to respect your opponent a lot.
"Ireland works a lot, fights a lot. If we're not at our best level, we could have problems."
Goalkeepers: Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Diogo Costa (Porto), Rui Patrício (Roma).
Defenders: João Cancelo (Manchester City), Ricardo Pereira (Leicester), Domingos Duarte (Granada), Gonçalo Inácio (Sporting Lisbon), Pepe (Porto), Rúben Dias (Manchester City), Nuno Mendes (Sporting Lisbon), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund), Danilo (PSG).
Midfielders: João Palhinha (Sporting Lisbon), Rúben Neves (Wolves), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), João Mário (Porto), João Moutinho (Wolves), Octávio (Porto), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), André Silva (Leipzig).
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Gonçalo Guedes (Valencia), Pedro Gonçalves (Sporting Lisbon) Rafa (Benfica).
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