Troubled France in Ronaldo’s sights
The UEFA Nations League is back with its penultimate round of fixtures in the group stages and the marquee fixture of the fifth matchday sees a rematch of the 2016 Euro final, with Portugal hosting France at the Estadio do SL Benfica on Saturday.
The Seleccao come into the game on the back of a thumping 7-0 win over Andorra and with Cristiano Ronaldo itching to get a step closer to Ali Daei's record of the most international goals, who got 107 for Iran.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos as confident ahead of the match, implying that the team had bigger concerns than a single group-stage match. However, he expressed full belief in his team.
"There is a clear objective, which is to get to the final four and try to defend the title. We can take the opportunity to look at players from our extended squad. Paulinho and Pedro Neto are part of that list of 40 or 50 players that I think are all very good. There are none of them that I do not trust or do not have quality."
France could not boast the same confidence as the world champions are facing some pressure following a shock 2-0 defeat at the hands of Finland on Thursday and coach Didier Deschamps hoped that some of his players could return from injury. Les Bleus were without Kylian Mbappe, Presnel Kimpembe, Kingsley Coman, Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez for that game at the Stade de France.
"It's going in the right direction," Deschamps was quoted as saying by French sports daily L'Equipe on Thursday after Finland ended their 12-match unbeaten streak. He added that he was "not sure of anything" concerning Mbappe and Pavard, who were out of the Finland game with a thigh problem and an ankle injury, respectively.
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