With only 23 players able to be part of the game sheet, coach Roberto Martínez, who has 24 at his disposal, was forced to cut a player and the Spanish coach’s decision ended up falling to the FC Porto defender.
Defender Tiago Djaló will miss this Friday’s reception from Portugal to Poland, in after being excluded from the final list for the fifth and penultimate round of group A1.
With only 23 players able to be part of the game sheet, coach Roberto Martínez, who has 24 at his disposal, was forced to cut a player and the Spanish coach’s decision ended up falling to the FC Porto defender.
Djaló, 24 years old, is like that again with his debut in the national team postponed, after being called up for the first time by Martínez. The defender had already been called up during the Fernando Santos ‘era’, but ended up never playing.
There are possible premieres
This means that defender Tomás Araújo, from Benfica, and full-back Nuno Tavares, from Lazio, will be at the Estádio do Dragão, in Porto, and could win their first capsin a match that could confirm Portugal’s classification for the quarter-finals of the League of Nations.
Portugal-Poland is scheduled for 7:45 pm and will be refereed by Lithuanian Donatas Rumsas.
Three days later, on Monday, Portugal visits Croatia, in Split, and closes the group stage.
Portugal leads Group A1, with 10 points, three more than Croatia, which has seven, with both teams followed by Poland, with four, and Scotland, with one.
The top two teams from each of the four groups in League A of the fourth edition of the competition will advance to the quarter-finals.
Portugal won the first edition of the Nations League in 2019, beating the Netherlands 1-0 in the final, at Estádio do Dragão, in Porto, thanks to a goal from Gonçalo Guedes, and reached the group stage of League A in 2020/21 and 2022/23.
