Cristiano Ronaldo acknowledged that the road to the 2022 World Cup final «will not be easy» but assured that the Portuguese soccer team will fight «to put Portugal» in its «due place».
EFE
«We know that the road will not be easy, we have the utmost respect for the opponents we are going to face and who share our goal,» the striker claimed in a post on Instagram, where he claimed to be fully focused on the championship.
Portugal will face Turkey this Thursday in their first play-off game at the Estadio do Dragão in Porto, a single-game tie that does not detract from hope for the Portuguese.
The Madeira striker has one of the few incentives in the Qatar World Cup in 2022, since in the Premier his team, Manchester United, is 20 points behind the leader (City) and Atlético de Madrid eliminated him in the second round of the Champions League last week.
Diogo Jota was also cautious this Tuesday at a press conference where he recognized that Turkey «is not an easy opponent» but Portugal has «all the conditions to win».
For Jota, the Portuguese team, whose pass is not guaranteed, must face this Thursday’s game «with a lot of responsibility», but «we must not dramatize the issue too much».
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«It’s a football game, I think we can win and we have the conditions to be in the final,» he said.
The players took to the pitch at the Ciudad del Fútbol today to train and prepare for the countdown to their match with the Turks.
Whoever wins will play the final of this playoff on March 29 in Porto against the winner of the other semifinal between Italy and North Macedonia.