The national team manager will field João Félix and Gonçalo Ramos in the attack against Norway – and not with Portugal’s biggest star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Jorge Jesus explained to Sport TV why he leaves Cristiano Ronaldo out of Portugal’s starting eleven for the match against Norway – game number two in the Nations League, three days after the clash against Wales. “Today is the third day. In Alvalade, Cris played almost 70 minutes and I thought that today I couldn’t start two games in a row. We want Ronaldo in these four games, with more or less minutes, but we want him to be on the pitch,” he said.
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Portugal’s starting eleven against Norway
Vitinha is also among those missing from Portugal’s starting eleven, for the same reason as Ronaldo, according to Jorge Jesus: “He ran 13km against Wales. Today is the third day and he still hasn’t recovered.”
In an interview with RTP, the coach explained the bet on Pedro Neto and Francisco Conceição as the wings of the Portuguese attack: “We need two young wingers who carry the game, who don’t balance their individual dynamics. I think some of them – or even Rafael Leão, if he played – can do it.”
Finally, Jorge Jesus shared a little more about what he expects from the attacking line in this match. “For this game, I thought that if I had strikers with good individual ball control, that wouldn’t be enough. I need brave, fast players to break through Norway’s last defensive line,” he said.
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