Why Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of Portugal’s squad to face Switzerland

Star man Cristiano Ronaldo is set to play no part in Portugal’s latest fixture on Sunday evening, it has been confirmed.

Fernando Santos’ troops are set to return to action in short order.

Sitting pretty atop the Group B table owing to a haul of seven points from three outings, A Selecao have made the trip to Geneva, hopeful of making it three Nations League wins on the spin at the expense of a struggling Switzerland.

⚽ 33’ Portugal 1-0 Czech Republic
⚽ 38’ Portugal 2-0 Czech Republic

Joao Cancelo pinged this one for the opening goal of the match 😵

📺 Stream #NationsLeague live: https://t.co/0BMWdeEYT3 pic.twitter.com/pu5u6WMXsl

— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) June 9, 2022

As alluded to above, though, such efforts on the part of the Portuguese squad are set to come sans the services of the country’s leader and talisman.

This comes with the aforementioned Ronaldo having been omitted from the country’s travelling squad bound for the Stade de Geneve.

CR7 had featured from the off in each of A Selecao’s last two outings, notching a brace en route to a 4-0 drubbing of upcoming opponents Switzerland a week ago today.

As confirmed in the buildup to tonight’s action, though, Ronaldo has been afforded the night off by boss Fernando Santos, in a bid to secure some much-needed rest on the back of a hectic close to the club season.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been given a rest and will not travel with the Portugal squad to face Switzerland today. #mufc

— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) June 12, 2022

RB Leipzig star Andre Silva, in turn, looks primed for a return to starting duties for Portugal, when proceedings get underway in Geneva in a little over an hour’s time.