Roberto Martínez is announced as the new coach of Portugal and pronounces on the situation of Cristiano Ronaldo

The Spanish Roberto Martinez has been appointed selector of Portugalreplacing Fernando Santosafter directing Belgium from 2016 until their elimination in the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar, the Portuguese Football Federation announced on Monday.

Surprise: Al Nassr kicked him out of the club for Cristiano Ronaldo to play

The first challenge of the new selector of Portugal49, will clarify the role of Cristiano Ronaldo who, after a controversial World Cup, has just signed for the Al Nassr.

”Football decisions have to be made on the pitch. I don’t make decisions in the office. My starting point is the list from the last World Cup and Cristiano is a player on that list. He has been in the national team for 19 years and deserves the respect of sitting down and talking. And tomorrow we’ll talk,” he said. Martinez during your presentation.

The Catalan coach left the ‘Red Devils’ at the beginning of December, affirming that his early elimination in the World Cup in Qatar was not the cause of his departure, decided, according to him, before the tournament.

After a short victory over Canada (1-0), Belgium lost against Morocco (2-0) and tied with Croatia (0-0).

Martinez had taken the reins of Belgium in 2016, after the traumatic elimination in the quarterfinals of the Eurocup against Welsh. Under his direction, the team reached the semifinals of Russia-2018 and was first in the classification established by FIFA for more than three years.

The Portuguese team is also coming out of a long period of stability after eight years led by Fernando Santoswith which he won his first major titles: Euro 2016 and the first edition of the League of Nations in 2019.

When the 68-year-old coach announced his departure, five days after the elimination of the ‘Seleçao’ in the quarterfinals of the World Cup against Morocco (1-0), the Portuguese press wrote that the Federation wanted to hire his compatriot Jose Mourinhocurrent technician of the Rome.