⚽ UEFA Nations League ⚽ - Discussion Thread

[Ummeettaa]

Jorge Jesus actually disrespected Ronaldo and it is very bad of him. I was not expecting him to act this way towards Ronaldo. If he knows he was not willing to use Ronaldo he shouldn’t have called him up, it is a big embarrassment for a player like Ronaldo to be called up just to keep him on the bench.
My anger right now is that the coach is making this kind of statement and I don’t see the reason why he should be making this kind of statement. It is very bad of him.
Let see if his going to win the trophy.

I'm surprised by the statement of the Portugal coach Jorge Jesus,  him and Ronaldo won the league together with Al-nassr,  Ronaldo help him secured the Portugal coaching job, only for him to make such a statement on the symbol of Portugal football,  this is not the best way to resolve the issue,  Ronaldo deserves respect and honor for all he did for Portugal, Jorge Jesus will have a challenge with the nation team,  the fans are not happy with him for benching Ronaldo in 90 minutes,  that's disrespectful.

Although benching Ronaldo was not entirely right seriously, but the coaching staff have full right to start or bench whosoever they wants to as that is their duty.

Every part in football from the coaching staffs down to the players have their respective rights and duties, why is it that when a team is loosing matches frequently they always put the blame on the coaches.

Ronaldo is a very old and matured player who have won and achieved almost all the individual, clubs and country's awards any player will hope for, he shouldn't have acted the way he did leaving the National team camp.

Being benched this once might be a disrespect to him, but shouldn't have been a problem that escalated this way with all that he has already, he should be able to sometimes atleast even make sacrifices of not playing and given the younger ones chance to also play.

He is at the verge of his retirement and a leader that almost all the players in the world look up to, doing what he did will be a stain to his perfect career, and that was why he should have acted in such a way that the younger generations will someday copy not walking out the way he did.

Ronaldo is an iconic and one of the best players in the entire football world, and anything he do or does will becomes part of the history of the game.

[nelson4lov]

I woke up to this Ronaldo and Portuguese National team news, and I think what's really funny about this situation is that both of them worked together at Al Nassr throughout last season, and Ronaldo scored around 30 goals last season, which contributed a lot to Al Nassr's title win. A lot of people don't know this but Ronaldo helped Jorge to get the Al Nassr job so I get why he is angry and disappointed.

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

[Plutomanian]

I woke up to this Ronaldo and Portuguese National team news, and I think what's really funny about this situation is that both of them worked together at Al Nassr throughout last season, and Ronaldo scored around 30 goals last season, which contributed a lot to Al Nassr's title win. A lot of people don't know this but Ronaldo helped Jorge to get the Al Nassr job so I get why he is angry and disappointed.

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

Cristiano Ronaldo is this kind of player they commands respect, his types are rare in football nowadays. Ronaldo knows alot is going on behind the scenes and he just want to make sure he is on the brighter side of play. Ronaldo leaving the Portugal camp simply because Jorge Jesus is not using him anymore in games is surprising, what most Ronaldo fans failed to understand is that, he's no longer active on the pitch and for him to accomplish his incredible tally record of 1000 goals, he just have to anticipate in games that have lower pressure other than the nations league.

The Nations League is absolutely where competitors come to show how aggressive they can be and we know Ronaldo is not that physical when it comes to facing these elite sides. Ronaldo reasons leaving the Portugal national camp remained unknown but atleast there's peace in the national team now.

[KingsDen]

Italy cannot win France even in the absence of Kylian Mbappe. I know that France has been very poor in goalscoring recently, but that doesn't mean that they will allow Italy who is still managing to get up from their slumber. Even without Kylian Mbappe, France still makes a perfect squad because they have Bradley Barcola, Ousmame Dembele and Michael Olise who can still cover up for his absence. France is dangerous in attacking, I don't think Italy can contain the pressure that will come from France attacks. The reason why Italy won Turkey in their last game was because they were very quick to score a lot of goals in the first half. When it got to the second half they literally lost their strength and couldn't continue with same energy anymore.

I don't know what convinced you that Italy can't beat Spain, but for me, Italy has chances of beating Spain. I said this because of France recent form. France won by one goal against Turkey, the same Turkey that Italy thrashed 4–1. France also managed to beat Belgium by one goal.

France is yet to win any game confidently to prove their attack is dangerous as you say. I know France has a lot of world class attackers, but they haven't been much effective in terms of scoring goals in this competition, that's why I think Italy has a chance to capitalize. Italy has a good defence, they might score early goals like they did to Turkey, and maybe decided to frustrate the France attack that has have low conversion rate.

Zidane dropped Dembele, Olise and Cherki on the bench in the game against Belgium, I just hope Zidane doesn't repeat this against Italy.

[HustleZ]

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

Well if you still want Ronaldo to play in the international team despite all of the bad performances he is delivering because of his age then you are just a biased Ronaldo fan and not a football fan, you just want to see him play no matter how bad he plays and what impact he has on the team. If he is dropped and another capable player is given his job then i believe it would be much better overall for the team. Ronaldo was a fabulous player once but now that is the past and we should let the past be the past, Portugal shouldn’t risk their games in the hope of that past Ronaldo’s performance by him right now.

[yenerbatmaz]

I woke up to this Ronaldo and Portuguese National team news, and I think what's really funny about this situation is that both of them worked together at Al Nassr throughout last season, and Ronaldo scored around 30 goals last season, which contributed a lot to Al Nassr's title win. A lot of people don't know this but Ronaldo helped Jorge to get the Al Nassr job so I get why he is angry and disappointed.

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

There is a difference here. Jorge joined the staff at Al-Nassr. I don't know if Ronaldo played a role in his arrival, but Jorge came later. Subsequently, Jorge took charge of the Portuguese national team. Right now, the decision of whether or not to include Ronaldo in the squad rests entirely with him.
He couldn't have done that at Al-Nassr; the club's management would have dismissed Jesus, whereas Ronaldo would never have left the team.
The situation with the national team is different.
In my opinion, Ronaldo should no longer be part of the national team. Due to his age, he cannot perform as he used to. His teammates on the pitch might feel intimidated by him, which hinders them from playing freely. For this reason, Ronaldo should no longer be in the national team.

[mandown]

Spain defeated Croatia 4–1. Yamal scored a beautiful goal early in the match. Beljo leveled the score at 1–1 in the 28th minute, but Spain regained the lead three minutes later through Pubill.
Spain scored two more goals in the second half, finishing the match with a 4–1 victory.
What stood out most to me in the match was Livaković's poor performance. Yamal's second goal went in at the very corner Livaković was supposed to be covering.
He also fumbled the ball on the play that was disallowed for offside, though the assistant referee's offside flag saved him.
Anyone seeing this performance by Livaković yesterday would never believe he is a Barcelona goalkeeper.

[Silence Scream]

I woke up to this Ronaldo and Portuguese National team news, and I think what's really funny about this situation is that both of them worked together at Al Nassr throughout last season, and Ronaldo scored around 30 goals last season, which contributed a lot to Al Nassr's title win. A lot of people don't know this but Ronaldo helped Jorge to get the Al Nassr job so I get why he is angry and disappointed.

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

We all know how passionately Ronaldo plays for his country. I started my day with news about Cristiano Ronaldo and was quite surprised. In my eyes, Portugal is a team that is always associated with Cristiano Ronaldo. In the past, Luis Figo would come to mind, but now and in the future, it will always be Cristiano Ronaldo. That is why Cristiano Ronaldo is so valuable to the Portuguese national team. It would have been great if things were different.

[JiiBs]

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

Well if you still want Ronaldo to play in the international team despite all of the bad performances he is delivering because of his age then you are just a biased Ronaldo fan and not a football fan, you just want to see him play no matter how bad he plays and what impact he has on the team.

I wouldn’t say his being performing badly, I’ll rather go with the fact that, he isn’t meeting up with expectations. I mean, his Ronaldo and that name carries weight, there is certain objectivism that is expected of him while his on the pitch, his teammates knows that too and his being far from it on the national team. Not to mention, his team actually do feel his done but, he just isn’t accepting it yet. I figure that’s due to the fact that, he still feels his not doing badly in club side football and believes same can apply on the national team.

[W Jr.]

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

Well if you still want Ronaldo to play in the international team despite all of the bad performances he is delivering because of his age then you are just a biased Ronaldo fan and not a football fan, you just want to see him play no matter how bad he plays and what impact he has on the team.

I wouldn’t say his being performing badly, I’ll rather go with the fact that, he isn’t meeting up with expectations. I mean, his Ronaldo and that name carries weight, there is certain objectivism that is expected of him while his on the pitch, his teammates knows that too and his being far from it on the national team. Not to mention, his team actually do feel his done but, he just isn’t accepting it yet. I figure that’s due to the fact that, he still feels his not doing badly in club side football and believes same can apply on the national team.

The level of competition in Saudi Arabia is not like that of the national team. Portugal plays much tougher matches. This days Cristiano Ronaldo continues to score goals in Saudi Arabia. In fact, that is precisely why he keeps getting called up to the national team. His performance is on par with that of an above average striker. I am certain that if he were 27 instead of 41, he would still be called up, because his performance is solid. I don't know what he has been through, but we all know just how important he is to Portugal.

[katanic97]

~
I wish I could be as optimistic as you are. But unfortunately, I now see the glass as half empty, if not completely empty. What we’re experiencing isn’t just a temporary crisis, but a genuine decline in Italian football! We’re no longer able to produce young talents as we once did; now we only have good players who are overrated, and that, sadly, is the grim reality. If the FIGC has no intention of taking action, we’ll witness an incredible collapse

It’s not such a collapse when you look a little further back in history. You won the 2006 WC, then finished second at EURO 2012, reached the quarter finals in 2016, and won EURO 2021. That’s simply the situation at the moment. It’s a fact that Italy has missed three WC in a row, but that dark streak will come to an end soon as well. You have to stay optimistic.

I could remember them winning the world cup in 2006 and EURO 2021. Back them they were a very tough nation especially in the world cup but they suddenly started declining four over a decade which was very surprising. However their football federation needed to be queried for that. Well i see they're trying to improve and go back to being one of the best teams in the world, although it might take a while but they'll never have bad performance forever hopefully there would be changes concerning developing future world class players.

I think Roberto Baggio had an idea of how to bring Italian football back to its old ways, i think he even wrote a book (correct me if i'm wrong). When you look at those years, look at the league (serie a) and see what kind of clubs they had back then. In 2006 Inter were the champions, and we remember how strong the league was back then. In 2021 you could feel the drop in quality, but serie a was still highly regarded. 5 years later the quality has really dropped and because of that Italy as a national team hasn't achieved any results. My point is that if the league is strong, the national team will be strong too.

[hmbdofficial]

Cristiano Ronaldo is this kind of player they commands respect, his types are rare in football nowadays. Ronaldo knows alot is going on behind the scenes and he just want to make sure he is on the brighter side of play. Ronaldo leaving the Portugal camp simply because Jorge Jesus is not using him anymore in games is surprising, what most Ronaldo fans failed to understand is that, he's no longer active on the pitch and for him to accomplish his incredible tally record of 1000 goals, he just have to anticipate in games that have lower pressure other than the nations league.

The Nations League is absolutely where competitors come to show how aggressive they can be and we know Ronaldo is not that physical when it comes to facing these elite sides. Ronaldo reasons leaving the Portugal national camp remained unknown but atleast there's peace in the national team now.

Well I don’t think Ronaldo left the camp simply because he wasn’t being used, I know for a fact that Ronaldo is one of the most decorated and disciplined player you can ever see out there. If the reason he left the camp isn’t yet verified, then it will not be fair on your side to conclude on that based on your own personal assumption. However I know that he’s not really active on the pitch but trust me Ronaldo at 41 can still deliver goals and if they feel he’s not needed, then he shouldn’t have been called. I had thought he already retired from international duties after the 2026 word cup.

[eisen33]

Today is another day of Nations League action for the national teams, and another match for Klopp as Germany’s manager. I think everyone will be expecting nothing less than a win from Klopp today, despite Germany not playing particularly well in their first two matches.

Serbia are also in very poor form, they lost their matches against Greece and the Netherlands. I didn’t expect Serbia to be such obvious underdogs in this group, or Greece to be at the top of the table after two rounds.

I think Germany should be able to beat a Serbia that looks this weak. If they can’t even manage that, I think Klopp could be asked to step down.

[liasbaa]

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

Well if you still want Ronaldo to play in the international team despite all of the bad performances he is delivering because of his age then you are just a biased Ronaldo fan and not a football fan, you just want to see him play no matter how bad he plays and what impact he has on the team.

I wouldn’t say his being performing badly, I’ll rather go with the fact that, he isn’t meeting up with expectations. I mean, his Ronaldo and that name carries weight, there is certain objectivism that is expected of him while his on the pitch, his teammates knows that too and his being far from it on the national team. Not to mention, his team actually do feel his done but, he just isn’t accepting it yet. I figure that’s due to the fact that, he still feels his not doing badly in club side football and believes same can apply on the national team.

The level of competition in Saudi Arabia is not like that of the national team. Portugal plays much tougher matches. This days Cristiano Ronaldo continues to score goals in Saudi Arabia. In fact, that is precisely why he keeps getting called up to the national team. His performance is on par with that of an above average striker. I am certain that if he were 27 instead of 41, he would still be called up, because his performance is solid. I don't know what he has been through, but we all know just how important he is to Portugal.

Of course he is a respected legend for his country. His contribution to the national team was in the past and is still there. His absence in the Nations League did not affect the team much, he just enjoyed the match to sit sideline. He may have to play in the upcoming matches if needed. You are right that Cristiano Ronaldo is still scoring goals in the Saudi league and he should continue his game. Critics will chase him but he should continue to play his own game to achieve the feat of being the top scorer in football. Some say he should have retired after the World Cup but I would say he is still the best striker and goalscorer and physically fit so why should he retire now.

[meser#]

Spain defeated Croatia 4–1. Yamal scored a beautiful goal early in the match. Beljo leveled the score at 1–1 in the 28th minute, but Spain regained the lead three minutes later through Pubill.
Spain scored two more goals in the second half, finishing the match with a 4–1 victory.
What stood out most to me in the match was Livaković's poor performance. Yamal's second goal went in at the very corner Livaković was supposed to be covering.
He also fumbled the ball on the play that was disallowed for offside, though the assistant referee's offside flag saved him.
Anyone seeing this performance by Livaković yesterday would never believe he is a Barcelona goalkeeper.

My friend, Livakovic has never been a good goalkeeper. Barcelona signed him as a backup keeper. I watched the match highlights, and he played very poorly. I don't think he'll be in goal for Croatia in the next match.
Yamal was quite effective in this game. If he keeps up this level of performance, we can be certain he'll win the Ballon d'Or next year.
Spain secured a victory in their 26th match played in Seville; they hadn't lost any of the previous 25 games played there.
Spain is indisputably the team playing the best football in the world right now.

[Daniel91]

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

Well if you still want Ronaldo to play in the international team despite all of the bad performances he is delivering because of his age then you are just a biased Ronaldo fan and not a football fan, you just want to see him play no matter how bad he plays and what impact he has on the team.

I wouldn’t say his being performing badly, I’ll rather go with the fact that, he isn’t meeting up with expectations. I mean, his Ronaldo and that name carries weight, there is certain objectivism that is expected of him while his on the pitch, his teammates knows that too and his being far from it on the national team. Not to mention, his team actually do feel his done but, he just isn’t accepting it yet. I figure that’s due to the fact that, he still feels his not doing badly in club side football and believes same can apply on the national team.

The level of competition in Saudi Arabia is not like that of the national team. Portugal plays much tougher matches. This days Cristiano Ronaldo continues to score goals in Saudi Arabia. In fact, that is precisely why he keeps getting called up to the national team. His performance is on par with that of an above average striker. I am certain that if he were 27 instead of 41, he would still be called up, because his performance is solid. I don't know what he has been through, but we all know just how important he is to Portugal.

Of course he is a respected legend for his country. His contribution to the national team was in the past and is still there. His absence in the Nations League did not affect the team much, he just enjoyed the match to sit sideline. He may have to play in the upcoming matches if needed. You are right that Cristiano Ronaldo is still scoring goals in the Saudi league and he should continue his game. Critics will chase him but he should continue to play his own game to achieve the feat of being the top scorer in football. Some say he should have retired after the World Cup but I would say he is still the best striker and goalscorer and physically fit so why should he retire now.

I think we all agree that Ronaldo is a football legend and that together with Messi he has marked the history of football for the last 20 years.
That is why it is interesting that both of them, at the same time, are stopping playing for their national teams.
Messi will play his last match for the national team in 5 days, on 6.10 against Benin and it will be a real and beautiful farewell to the national team.
On the other hand, Ronaldo unnecessarily entered into a conflict with the coach of his national team and clearly does not understand, unlike Messi, that his time has passed and that a chance should be given to younger players.
He is no longer as fast and effective in attack as he once was and should have said goodbye to the national team with dignity, like Messi and not in this shameful way.
This is what happens when someone's ego and the race for records in the number of goals and appearances for the national team become more important than the interests of the national team.
As for today, I think it will be most interesting to watch the match between the reborn Greece and the Netherlands with a new coach.
After all the drama surrounding Ronaldo, it will be interesting to see how it will affect the Portuguese players and follow their match against Denmark, already an unpleasant and difficult opponent.

[AprilioMP]

I woke up to this Ronaldo and Portuguese National team news, and I think what's really funny about this situation is that both of them worked together at Al Nassr throughout last season, and Ronaldo scored around 30 goals last season, which contributed a lot to Al Nassr's title win. A lot of people don't know this but Ronaldo helped Jorge to get the Al Nassr job so I get why he is angry and disappointed.

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

We all know how passionately Ronaldo plays for his country. I started my day with news about Cristiano Ronaldo and was quite surprised. In my eyes, Portugal is a team that is always associated with Cristiano Ronaldo. In the past, Luis Figo would come to mind, but now and in the future, it will always be Cristiano Ronaldo. That is why Cristiano Ronaldo is so valuable to the Portuguese national team. It would have been great if things were different.

I feel sorry for Ronaldo's current state in football. Ronaldo has essentially declined, and he must realize that, while his body still looks muscular and strong, his strength is starting to wear off when running throughout the match. Considering his popularity in the world of football, Jorge Jesus shouldn't have done that in Portugal's match against Norway. At the very least, he should have started him, even if only for 35 minutes or one half. But that's football, a team game and a strategic game, so control during the match rests with the coach.

[Adbitco]

Spain's golden generation is currently on a 40 match unbeaten streak, the last time they lost was in 2024, Columbia was the team to have beaten Spain and since then, they have been running riots on the field with 39 wins and 9 draws. This is the longest number of unbeaten runs in international football, with Italy being the team that held this record before Spain just overtook it 3 matches ago. Italy held the record with 37 matches unbeaten spanning for 3 years, 2018 - 2021. With Spain's form right now, they could actually make it 50 unbeaten runs.

[B2Z]

I woke up to this Ronaldo and Portuguese National team news, and I think what's really funny about this situation is that both of them worked together at Al Nassr throughout last season, and Ronaldo scored around 30 goals last season, which contributed a lot to Al Nassr's title win. A lot of people don't know this but Ronaldo helped Jorge to get the Al Nassr job so I get why he is angry and disappointed.

Well, no Ronaldo, no support for the Portuguese national team from me.

When I was little, I heard the name Cristiano Ronaldo and when I gradually grew up and my understanding of football increased, I came to know that Cristiano Ronaldo is from Portugal. That is, I did not know Portugal first, but Cristiano Ronaldo first and I got to know Portugal through Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is over 40 years old, so naturally we cannot expect the performance of a 25-year-old Ronaldo from the current Ronaldo, but even then, the performance he is performing for his current club does not prove that he has forgotten the game, but rather the coach's decision proves that he is not satisfied with Ronaldo's performance. The main problem in the current Portugal team is that there are some world-famous midfielders there.  The media fans have made them world famous midfielders because of which they now do not consider legendary players worthy to play with them, this is probably the main reason why Ronaldo is now being benched.

Yes, as you said, if Cristiano Ronaldo is not in the Portugal team, it means I will forget about Portugal. Yes, this kind of thing will happen to most Portuguese fans because now most of the Portugal fans we see worldwide are Ronaldo fans.

[satscraper]

if Cristiano Ronaldo is not in the Portugal team, it means I will forget about Portugal. Yes, this kind of thing will happen to most Portuguese fans because now most of the Portugal fans we see worldwide are Ronaldo fans.

In my view there will not be too much risk for me to place the ticket on Portugal because even without Cristiano Ronaldo playing, they have definetely stronger squad. I have high hopes for Joao Felix and think he will score at least once. So my prediction for this match is 1-0 or 2-1 with Portugal win.

Probably I have the crystal ball inside my head  , because four things predicted by me have turned to be true, namely,  Portugal's win, the final score is 2-1, Joao Felix was the crucial key in this victory, and the lack of Ronaldo had no effect on the result. Regarding Ronaldo leaving the camp, I think this is good because the sooner they learn how to win without him being in  squad, the better for Portuguese national team.