“There are many who deserve to be in the XI and aren’t” – Roberto Martinez hints Cristiano Ronaldo and other Portugal stars could be rested

Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez has hinted that Cristiano Ronaldo and other players could be rested against Georgia on Thursday. Portugal confirmed their round of 16 qualification with a thumping 3-0 win against Turkiye at the Signal Iduna Park on Saturday.

Bernardo Silva opened the scoring for Portugal as he found the back of the net in the 21st minute. Subsequently, after a horrible mix up with the goalkeeper, Samet Akaydin scored an own goal to put the opposition in front by 2-0.

11 minutes into the second half, Ronaldo set up Bruno Fernandes as the Manchester United midfielder scored an easy goal.

Roberto Martinez said after the win, “We’re going to rotate some players. There are many who deserve to be in the 11 and aren’t. The difficulty is to use everyone. It’s to see in training those who are doing well, and we’re going to use all the players.”

“They all play an important part in the national team. There are days when they need to be on the bench, others when they have to be on the field,” he added.

Martinez also showered praise on the team’s captain Cristiano Ronaldo for being selfless and giving Fernandes the ball to net an easy goal.

“About Cristiano Ronaldo, today I saw something spectacular. In front of the goalkeeper, he preferred to pass to Bruno Fernandes. This should be shown in all training academies in Portugal and the world,” the Portugal manager said.

Fernandes also showered praise on his teammate, Ronaldo, despite being one-on-one with goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.

“Everyone loves to score goals, but that is not the most important thing, and that is reflected in my goal, because Cristiano is our best goalscorer, and when he could score, he passed it to me.”