The reigning European champions return to Russia a year after finishing third at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. Despite their victory two years ago in France, and despite the presence in their squad of the greatest European player of his – or perhaps any other – generation, Fernando Santos’s side are not bracketed among the favourites to win the 2018 World Cup. Any team that contains Cristiano Ronaldo, however, has to be taken seriously.
Ronaldo will skipper a squad that is shorn of ten of its European champions but features a few bright young things of equal standard, if not yet stature. Portugal’s 2018 World Cup squad is a classic mix of experience and youth. Whether its blend proves to be as heady as the class of Euro 2016 remains to be seen.
I have studied the international careers of the chosen 23 players in meticulous detail and produced a number of interesting facts and stats that you can see below. Those concerning Ronaldo make for particularly compelling reading.
I am compiling similar information on the other 13 European teams in the build-up to the Big Kick-off on Thursday, June 14. Several other surveys are already on the site.
Here is the Portugal squad with the players’ current club, caps and goals (following the May 28 friendly v Tunisia):
Goalkeepers
Anthony Lopes (Lyon, 7/0), Beto (Göztepe, 13/0), Rui Patrício (Sporting, 68/0)
Defenders
Bruno Alves (Rangers, 95/11), Cédric (Southampton, 27/1), José Fonte (Dalian Yifang, 29/0), Mário Rui (Napoli, 2/0), Pepe (Beşiktaş, 93/5), Raphaël Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund, 22/2), Ricardo Pereira (Leicester, 4/0), Rúben Dias (Benfica, 1/0)
Midfielders
Adrien Silva (Leicester, 22/1), Bruno Fernandes (Sporting, 4/0), João Mário (Internazionale, 34/2), João Moutinho (Monaco, 108/7), Manuel Fernandes (Lokomotiv Moscow, 13/3), William Carvalho (Sporting, 41/2)
Forwards
André Silva (Milan, 21/12), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, 23/2), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, 149/81), Gelson Martins (Sporting, 17/0), Gonçalo Guedes (Valencia, 8/1), Ricardo Quaresma (Beşiktaş, 75/9)
The total number of international caps gained by the 23 players is 876. The number of caps gained in competitive fixtures (i.e. World Cup, Euro and Confederations Cup matches) is 540. The number of caps gained at final tournaments (Confederations Cup included) is 192. The number of caps gained at the World Cup finals is 32.
The total number of international goals scored by the 23 players is 139. The number of goals scored in competitive fixtures is 100. The number of goals scored at final tournaments is 24. The number of goals scored at the World Cup finals is 3.
The number of players in the squad appearing at their first final tournament is 6. The number of players appearing at their first World Cup is 16.
There are 15 survivors from the 2017 Confederations Cup squad: Beto, Rui Patrício, Bruno Alves, Cédric, José Fonte, Pepe, Raphaël Guerreiro, Adrien Silva, João Moutinho, William Carvalho, André Silva, Bernardo Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gelson Martins and Ricardo Quaresma
There are 13 survivors from the triumphant Euro 2016 squad: Anthony Lopes, Rui Patrício, Bruno Alves, Cédric, José Fonte, Pepe, Raphaël Guerreiro, Adrien Silva, João Mário, João Moutinho, William Carvalho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma.
There are 7 survivors from the 2014 World Cup squad: Beto, Rui Patrício, Bruno Alves, Pepe, João Moutinho, William Carvalho and Cristiano Ronaldo.
There are 7 survivors from the Euro 2012 squad: Beto, Rui Patrício, Bruno Alves, Pepe, João Moutinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma.
There are 4 survivors from the 2010 World Cup squad: Beto, Bruno Alves, Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo.
There are 6 survivors from the Euro 2008 squad: Rui Patrício, Bruno Alves, Pepe, João Moutinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma.
There is 1 survivor from the 2006 World Cup squad: Cristiano Ronaldo.
There is 1 survivor from the Euro 2004 squad: Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Confederations Cup included, Ronaldo will be taking part in his ninth final tournament – and fourth World Cup. The 2018 World Cup will be the seventh tournament for Bruno Alves and Pepe, the sixth for João Moutinho and Rui Patrício, the fifth for Beto and Ricardo Quaresma, and the fourth for William Carvalho.
Ronaldo has played the most final tournament matches: 38 (13 at the World Cup, 21 at the Euro and four at the Confederations Cup). Pepe is next with 23 (4, 15 and 4), followed by João Moutinho on 22 (3, 15 and 4).
Although Beto has been to five final tournaments, he has participated in only two matches, both at the 2014 World Cup.
Five squad members have never played a competitive international: Anthony Lopes, Mário Rui, Ricardo Pereira, Rúben Dias and Bruno Fernandes.
Six players have appeared in over 25 competitive internationals. Their records are as follows:
Cristiano Ronaldo – Pld 103 W63 D29***!! L11 (of which at final tournaments Pld 38 W18 D12***!! L8)
João Moutinho – Pld 71 W42 D20*!! L9 (Pld 22 W10 D8*!! L4)
Pepe – Pld 63 W38 D16*! L9 (Pld 23 W11 D7*! L5)
Bruno Alves – Pld 58 W34 D17!! L7 (Pld 17 W8 D5!! L4)
Rui Patrício – Pld 53 W36 D11*!! L6 (Pld 18 W9 D7*!! L2)
Ricardo Quaresma – Pld 47 W28 D15*! L4 (Pld 13 W6 D6*! L1)
*draw followed by victory on penalties
! draw followed by defeat on penalties
Ricardo Quaresma has made 13 final tournament appearances but none at the World Cup.
Including defeats on penalties, just two players in the squad are undefeated in competitive internationals: Beto (W1 D1) and Gonçalo Guedes (W1 D0). Additionally, two players are undefeated at final tournaments: Raphaël Guerreiro (W4 D3) and João Mário (W3 D4).
Ronaldo is the squad’s leading scorer in competitive internationals, with 64 goals. Only one other player is on double figures – André Silva, nine of whose ten goals came in 2018 World Cup qualifying.
Ronaldo has scored 33 World Cup goals. They have come in 20 matches, all of which resulted in a Portugal victory. Fifteen of those goals were scored in 2018 World Cup qualifying – half of his total in four World Cup qualifying campaigns.
Ronaldo has scored one goal in each of his three previous World Cup final tournaments. He is the only member of the squad to have found the net at the World Cup finals.
Ronaldo is undefeated in World Cup and Euro matches since Portugal’s opening game of the 2014 World Cup – a 4-0 loss to Germany. That is a run of 24 matches, in which he has scored 24 goals.
Discounting a penalty shoot-out defeat by Chile – after a 0-0 draw – in the 2017 Confederations Cup, Ronaldo goes to the World Cup on a run of 28 competitive matches unbeaten.
Ronaldo has scored the most goals in final tournaments (14), with only two other squad members having managed more than one – Pepe and Ricardo Quaresma have both scored three.
Adrien Silva’s one international goal was the extra-time winning penalty in the 2017 Confederations Cup third place play-off against Mexico – Portugal’s most recent tournament goal.
Rui Patrício was the only player to start all ten of Portugal’s 2018 World Cup qualifiers, completing the 90 minutes on each occasion. André Silva also appeared in all ten, once as a substitute.
Between them Ronaldo (15) and André Silva (9) accounted for three quarters of Portugal’s 32 goals in 2018 World Cup qualifying. The only other players who scored more than one were William Carvalho and the non-selected João Cancelo.
Ronaldo has faced Spain four times, always in the starting XI, but has never scored against them. On each of the last three occasions he has been up against his Real Madrid club skipper Sergio Ramos.
Rui Patrício made his international debut as a half-time substitute in a 4-0 Lisbon friendly win against Spain in November 2010.
No member of the squad has faced Morocco or Iran.
Following Ricardo Pereira’s mid-May transfer from FC Porto to Leicester City, only five of the 23 players are home-based, with four playing for Sporting and one for Benfica.
The other 18 play their club football in nine different countries. The only foreign club represented by more than one player in the Portugal squad is Leicester with two (Ricardo Pereira and Adrien Silva). One player is based in Russia – Manuel Fernandes with champions Lokomotiv Moscow.
The only player other than Ronaldo to play in Spain is Valencia’s Gonçalo Guedes.
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