Ronaldo says Portugal ready to avoid an upset like Italy’s

Lisbon, March 28 (BUS): With a place at stake for what could be the fifth and final World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo needs to avoid a turmoil like the one that ended Italy’s hopes of making it to the tournament in Qatar.

Portugal will face a win-win match on Tuesday against North Macedonia, the team that shocked Italy last week to banish the four-times world champions from the World Cup finals for the second time in a row, the Associated Press reported.

“We were surprised,” Ronaldo said on Monday. “Macedonia has been a surprise in many matches. But I don’t think they will surprise us tomorrow. Portugal will play better and we will reach the World Cup.”

Portugal are trying to reach the World Cup finals for the sixth time in a row, and Ronaldo is hoping to take part in the tenth major tournament in a row after appearing in four World Cups and five European Championships since 2004.

“We know that if we win we will go to the World Cup and if we lose we will go out,” he said. “We have a responsibility to be positive and win the match. I see everyone is well prepared and wants to be at their best tomorrow.”

Ronaldo is the only player to score at least once in the finals of nine major tournaments in a row.

Ronaldo, the highest scorer in men’s international football, would have turned 41 by the next World Cup if Portugal had not qualified for this year’s play in Qatar.

The Manchester United striker did not want to talk about the possibility of the World Cup without him.

Ronaldo said: “There is no World Cup without Portugal.” “There are no people here.”

Ronaldo said he was starting to hear frequent questions about his future and made it clear that he was the only one who could decide on that. “If I feel like playing, I’ll keep playing,” he said. “If I don’t, I won’t.”

Portugal advanced into the game against North Macedonia by beating Turkey 3-1 in Porto on Thursday, when the visiting team missed a penalty in the 85th minute that could have wiped out the two-goal lead in the first half. The Portuguese added his third goal in added time.

Portugal was forced to participate in the qualifiers after conceding a late net and giving up last year’s lead in the group final match against Serbia.

North Macedonia, which gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, is trying to reach the World Cup final for the first time. She made her debut at the European Championships last year.

Alexander Trajkovski’s surprise win against Italy on Thursday came in the second minute of stoppage time in Palermo. North Macedonia had also defeated Germany a year earlier in its qualifying group for Europe, in which it ranked second after Germany.

Portugal coach Fernando Santos will have a more complete squad for the match at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto as defenders Pepe and Joao Cancelo returned after missing the match against Turkey. Pepe has tested positive for COVID-19, while Cancelo has been suspended.

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