Renato Sanches, a midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain, and Joao Moutinho, the second-most capped player in Portugal’s history, are both missing out on the trip to Qatar for the World Cup.
Sanches has 32 senior caps for Portugal since his debut in 2016 and was named Young Player of the Tournament as Portugal won their first major trophy that year at the European Championship in France.
Sanches has had trouble getting into games since leaving Lille for Ligue 1 rivals PSG in August. He has started just three games across all competitions and has played a total of 427 minutes.
Since Sanches has not been included in Fernando Santos’ plans, fellow PSG midfielders Marco Verratti, Vitinha, Danilo Pereira, Fabian Ruiz, Pablo Sarabia, and Carlos Soler have all made more starts this season.
Sanches’ PSG teammates Vitinha, Pereira, and Nuno Mendes have all been named to Portugal’s squad for the tournament, where they will face Ghana, Uruguay, and South Korea after being drawn in Group H.
In contrast, fellow midfielder Moutinho, whose remarkable total of 191 caps for Portugal is only surpassed by Ruben Neves and Matheus Nunes of Wolves, was passed over in favor of them.
Ronaldo, despite having a difficult season with Manchester United, will lead Portugal in Qatar in an attempt to become the first player to score in five different World Cups.
The 37-year-old, along with Pele, Uwe Seeler, and Miroslav Klose, are the only four players to score goals in four separate tournaments.
However, all seven of Ronaldo’s World Cup goals have come in the group stage, making him the most prolific scorer in tournament history who has yet to find the back of the net in the semifinals (in six such appearances).
Portugal’s squad
Diogo Costa (Porto), Jose Sa (Wolves), Rui Patricio (Roma); Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Joao Cancelo (Manchester City), Danilo Pereira (Paris Saint-Germain), Pepe (Porto), Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Antonio Silva (Benfica), Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund); Joao Palhinha (Fulham), Ruben Neves (Wolves), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Joao Mario (Benfica), Matheus Nunes (Wolves), Otavio (Porto), Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain), William Carvalho (Real Betis); Andre Silva (RB Leipzig), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Goncalo Ramos (Benfica), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid), Rafael Leao (Milan), Ricardo Horta (Braga).
