Portugal take Roldo out of friendly against Italy

Lisbon, Jun 16: Portuguese tiol team coach Ferndo Santos has said he has decided to remove exhausted striker Cristiano Roldo from the squad ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Italy. Santos said in a press conference on Monday that after Saturday’s clash against Armenia, the physical and mental condition of some players were discussed, and he believes he made the right decision, reports Efe. Roldo was the star of the away Euro 2016 qualifiers, scoring a hat trick to secure a decisive 3-2 victory in Yerevan, Armenia.

Roldo scored five of Portugal’s seven goals in the qualifiers, in which his team leads its group. Santos considered it normal that the team depends on players of Roldo’s calibre, and admitted that his team’s performance against Armenia was not the best, but at the same time praised the team’s effort and sacrifice to achieve victory. IANS