Cristiano Ronaldo who was first selected to play against Sweden has now been dropped to play in the first preliminary match by Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez, Sportskeeda reported.
The reason being, to give the Al-Nassr player who is on a vacation with his family in Saudi Arabia, some extra time to rest.
Ronaldo will be joining in after the Sweden match, to play against Slovenia on March 26.
The Portugal star, who is currently signed in with the Saudi Pro league, has had a busy season this year with 3000 minutes across 33 games.
The five time ballon d’Or winner along with Diogo Dalot, Joao Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Otavio, Ruben Neves, Vitinha and Joao Felix have been asked to rest for the first game.
Ronaldo, 36, on Instagram shared snippets from his vacation with family on a private island.
He posted a video, featuring him and his four children including 6-year-old Alana, 1-year-old Bella and 6-year-old twins Eva and Mateo, whom he shares with girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez.
His only kid missing from the video was his eldest son Cristiano Jr, 13, who like his father is a fan of football. He often shares videos of gyming and playing football.
After playing in the match against Slovenia, Ronaldo will return back to play in the Saudi Pro league with Al Nassr against Al Tai on march 30.
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