Thursday, 4 October 2018

Cristiano Ronaldo left out of Portugal squad again

livescores.com

Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of Portugal's squad for their upcoming internationals with Poland and Scotland.

Coach Fernando Santos confirmed on Thursday that the 33-year-old will miss the Nations League clash with Poland on October 11 and a friendly with the Scots at Hampden Park three days later.

The Juventus forward also missed the September matches against Croatia and Italy, after requesting to be left out as he continued to adapt following his move to Turin from Real Madrid.

No reason was given by Santos for his latest omission.

The news comes just 24 hours after Ronaldo "firmly denied" an allegation of rape brought by Kathryn Mayorga.

Ronaldo is accused by Ms Mayorga of sexually assaulting her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009. Local police confirmed on Tuesday that they had reopened an investigation from the same year, but did not name the victim or suspects.

Ms Mayorga's legal counsel outlined the impact they say the alleged assault has had on their client at a news conference on Wednesday, just hours after Ronaldo had stated his innocence on Twitter, describing rape as "an abominable crime".

His statement read: "I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.

"My clear conscious [sic] will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations."

In announcing his latest squad Santos confirmed he, Ronaldo and Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) president, Fernando Gomes, had all come to an agreement the player would not be called up this month or in November - although he did not specifically confirm the reason.

"There was a three-part conversation; the player, the president of the federation and the coach. We agreed that the player would not be in these two selections, this one and the next, in November," Santos told reporters.

However, Santos insists Ronaldo's international career is not over, even though he has not featured for his country since the World Cup, adding: "In the future, nothing prevents Cristiano from giving his input to the national team."

Wolves winger Helder Costa is the one new face in the squad, while Danilo Pereira, Eder and Kevin Rodrigues have earned recalls.

Portugal squad in full:

Beto (Goztepe), Claudio Ramos (Tondela), Rui Patricio (Wolves); Cedric Soares (Southampton), Joao Cancelo (Juventus), Luis Neto (Zenit), Pedro Mendes (Montpellier), Pepe (Besiktas), Ruben Dias (Benfica), Kevin Rodrigues (Real Sociedad), Mario Rui (Napoli); Bruno Fernandes (Sporting CP), Danilo Pereira (Porto), Gedson Fernandes (Benfica), Pizzi (Benfica), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich), Ruben Neves (Wolves), Sergio Oliveira (Porto), William Carvalho (Real Betis); Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Bruma (RB Leipzig), Goncalo Guedes (Valencia), Helder Costa (Wolves), Andre Silva (Sevilla), Eder (Lokomotiv Moscow).

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