Cristiano Ronaldo may start against Ireland as Portugal remain wary of set-piece threats

Ronaldo (39) was not used by Portugal in last week’s friendly games, a 4-2 win over Finland and Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Croatia, but he’s in the squad for the game against the Irish and along with fellow veteran Pepe and the Saudi Arabia-based Rúben Neves.

“The plan is to have minutes,” Martinez said at a press conference in Lisbon on Monday, ahead of their last training session. “We need to have training, so I don’t know if they will start or finish the game, but Pepe, Rúben and Ronaldo will have minutes.

“Players need to play minutes, have connections, enjoy the game, work on collective concepts. Ireland has a competitive capacity that is good for us because the tactical structure is similar to that of Georgia, for example.”

Portugal v Ireland: John O’Shea and Josh Cullen press conference

He’s not concerned about Ronaldo’s fitness despite his age (39) and feels the veteran can play in tournament football. “Cristiano had 51 games, he had no problem playing them all, but the data at club level is not the same at national team level. He showed that he can play every four days, but we evaluate that in real time during the tournament,” Martinez added.

Martinez has battled with Ireland – to his frustration – before, when he was in charge of Belgium for a 2-2 draw in a friendly in 2022 and he’s up to date with the Irish side.

“Ireland is a new team, the coach arrived with new ideas, the players are executing his ideas clearly. Defensively, they are a very well-worked team, but they also have the ability to attack quickly and work very well on dead balls. For us, it is an aspect to be ready for,” he said.

There has been criticism locally of Portugal’s choice of opponents, as Finland and Ireland are both outside of the top 60 in the FIFA world rankings. But Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes defended their fixture list.

“I’ll explain why we’re doing these friendlies,” he said.

“Finland, because they have a low block, is more difficult to enter between their lines. Croatia made us understand that they are a team that plays very well with the ball and warned us about the difficulties that the teams can create for us, especially through midfield rotation, with the wingers coming inside, with a lot of superiority in the middle, with players with a lot of quality in 1×1 to get out of difficult situations.

“Now, we will face a team, Ireland, that is physically very strong, defensively organised and whose main strength is set pieces. I have already spoken about all the aspects that all teams can have in their own way. There is no better preparation than preparing yourself for all these possibilities.”