Portugal squad started to prepare to play the European Championship qualifiers on Monday at their training camp near Lisbon.New Portugal coach Roberto Martínez included Cristiano Ronaldo in his first squad since taking over from Fernando Santos following the World Cup.
The 38-year-old Ronaldo was left out of Santos’ starting lineup for Portugal’s knockout-phase games at the tournament in Qatar, including the quarterfinal loss to Morocco.
Ronaldo, who plays for Saudi team Al-Nassr, can add to his international record 118 goals when Portugal plays European Championship qualifiers against Liechtenstein on March 23 and at Luxembourg three days later.Martínez made very few changes to the squad he inherited from Santos. Pepe, aged 40, was back again in defense, while Ronaldo was joined by João Félix, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva as playmakers.Martínez joined Portugal after the Spaniard ended his six-year stint with Belgium following the team’s disappointing group-stage elimination at the World Cu