Fernando Santos started on Monday the Azerbaijan match, on Wednesday in Baku (17 hours in Lisbon), for the fifth round of the first group qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, but he returned to Saturday’s match with Qatar, in which he achieved eleven matches. Changes to this preparation game. The limiter justified the changes with the players needing to rest within such a tight schedule.

Changes in the match with Qatar: “There were several reasons for the change. I needed to get the players back and rest them. Many of those here don’t know yet. There weren’t some changes, we totally changed the players. Then I have confidence in everyone and it is important to always have another game plan, strategically [frente ao Catar foi 4x3x3] And we can only do this in the game to see what worked and what didn’t. Tomorrow I expect great attitude, and strength, as they have done so well.”

The team is still training in Baku, with the Mukhtar saying João Palhinha has already gone to the field, but Pepe’s use will still be evaluated. “As everyone knows, Pepe and Ballinha did not train. Balinha went to the field, but today we will see if they are all doing well,” he said.