LAST UPDATE | 10 Nov 2021
BERNARDO SILVA HAS been ruled out of Portugal’s World Cup qualifier with Ireland tomorrow night.
The Manchester City attacker hasn’t trained owing to a muscle problem, and manager Fernando Santos believes he is not ready to be involved at the Aviva Stadium, though is expected to be fit for Sunday’s crucial meeting with Serbia.
Portugal will not want for replacements: Joao Felix is fit to be involved in the squad for the first time since the Euros, and is one of a glittering array of attacking stars along with Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Andre Silva, and Rafael Leão.
Bernardo is not their only injury blow ahead of tomorrow’s game, as Santos has already lost back-up goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, forward Rafa Silva and midfielder João Mário.
Portugal’s meeting with Serbia is the most important of their two games this week, as they must at least avoid defeat in that game to qualify automatically for the World Cup. Were they to beat Ireland tomorrow night Portugal would earn the added safety net of knowing a draw against the Serbs will be enough to qualify, but regardless of what happens in Dublin, they cannot afford to lose their final group game.
A complicating factor for Santos is the fact six members of his squad will miss the Serbia game if they are booked in Dublin: defenders Joao Cancelo, Rúben Dias and Jose Fonte; midfielders Joao Palhinha and Renato Sanches; and forward Diogo Jota.
While paying due respect to Ireland, Santos hinted he may shuffle his pack with those potential suspensions in mind.
“The most important game is against Ireland. I have confidence in all the players. More than getting a yellow card or not, you also have to think about how to be on the pitch.
“They’ll give everything. But when you know that a yellow card prevents you from being in the next game, that can affect you in some way. I’ll analyse it carefully and put out a strong team.”
Santos, meanwhile, reflected on the narrow 2-1 win in Faro in September by stressing his side’s performance was good aside from a chunk of the first-half, bookended by Diogo Jota’s header hitting the post and John Egan’s the back of the net.
Curbing Ireland’s counter-attacking threat will be key, says Santos.
“Within 20 minutes we could have been leading 2-0. We missed a penalty and hit the post. We had a lot of opportunities. What is important to take from that match is what happened between that ball hitting the post [Jota's header] and half-time. We lost the balance of the game, and went into a game that is more convenient to Ireland. There was a lot of attack and counter-attack, attack and counter-attack, and that did not help our team.
“It allowed the Irish team enter our area and they ended up scoring a goal, from a corner. In the second half the team reacted well, scored equaliser before full-time and the second goal right after.
“We need the right balances. To be in command of the match you have to have the ball and circulate it well. But we need the balance that when we lose it we can recover it and can eliminate the possibility of the counter-attack.”
There are expected to be 2,000 Portuguese fans at the game tomorrow night, trying to puncture what will be a wall of Irish noise from the first capacity Aviva crowd to watch the national team in two years.
“We know they are a strong team, they have proven they are very competitive and playing at home with the supporters they will be even more competitive.
“They are driven by the public. We saw the match against Serbia and the last 15 minutes were overwhelming because they fight a lot. They know how to play, they try to play starting with their goalkeeper. When they don’t have that option they have players to fight for the second ball.”