LISBON: Cristiano Ronaldo, who is still feeling the effects of a thigh injury, and Real Madrid team-mate Pepe will both miss Portugal’s World Cup warm-up match against Brazil-bound Greece today.
“Ronaldo will be with us but will not play... and Pepe will also not play,” Portugal coach Paulo Bento said yesterday.
Ronaldo sustained the injury late in the season, but Bento said there was no specific timetable to get the Portugal captain back on the pitch.
“We’re not going to set down a calendar for his return to competition,” Bento said, adding that he wanted to take “no risk”.
Central defender Pepe, making his comeback after a calf injury, trained on Thursday and Friday, having remained on the bench during Real’s Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid last Saturday, Ronaldo having played all 120 minutes in that match.
Portugal leave Monday for the United States where they will play Mexico and the Republic of Ireland in friendlies.
The Portuguese will face Germany on June 16, US a week later in Manaus and then Ghana on June 26 in Brasilia.
Meawnhile, Germany captain Philipp Lahm and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will not be included in the squad to face Cameroon in their penultimate warm-up game ahead of next month’s World Cup, giving the two players more time to fully recover from injuries.
AFP
