Cristiano Ronaldo missed his third workout in a row on Friday with Portugal coach Fernando Santos pessimistic he will recover from a toe infection in time for the start of their UEFA Nations League title defense against Croatia.
The Juventus star, who has 99 goals in 164 international matches, is with the squad preparing for the match in Porto on Saturday but has not trained since Tuesday.
“I’m very skeptical that he will be 100 percent OK tomorrow (Saturday),” Santos told a news conference.
He said Ronaldo, 35, continued “gym work” after training “very well” earlier this week.
“Then suddenly (on Wednesday) one of his tears was red, as if he had been stung by a bee,” Santos reported, adding that Ronaldo was on antibiotics after seeing a dermatologist.
“Now we have to wait. With an injury, you can get an idea of how the recovery will take. With an infection, you never know.”
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has not played since the beginning of August when Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League by Lyon.
He scored 37 goals in all competitions last season, a record for a Juve player, and insists that he remain ambitious and posted his “goals” of the season on Instagram last week.
“Wins. Commitment. Dedication. Professionalism. With all my strength and the valuable help of my teammates and all the Juventus staff, we are once again working to conquer Italy, Europe and the world!” he wrote.
Portugal returns to the city where they hosted the opening Nations League in June 2019 and beat the Netherlands 1-0. As Euro 2020 has been postponed by one year, they will also remain European champions.
After Croatia, they meet Sweden in Solna on Tuesday, where their group also includes world champions France.
Apart from Ronaldo, both Portugal and Croatia will be without other star players.
The Portuguese Football Association said that another member of the squad that won the European Championship 2016, Lille midfielder Renato Sanches, has been released from the squad for unspecified medical reasons.
However, Croatia has excused Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic from international obligations against Portugal and for a World Cup final match with France on Tuesday.
Modric, 34, played a crucial role in Real Madrid’s reunion when La Liga resumed after the lock and was only rested when the title was secured.
Rakitic, 32, was also a regular start when Barcelona collapsed in the league in June and July, although he had been moved to the bench for the Champions League quarter-finals and the traumatic 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich. He has since been sold back to Sevilla for 1.5 million euros ($ 1.8 million).
When La Liga resumed on September 13, both wanted to extend their off-season breaks.
Source: sn.dk