"Champions of Porto and Juventus" will miss Portugal's matches
Veteran Portugal defender Pepe will miss the first three matches of his country in the European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, after he was injured in the ranks of his team Porto at the end of the week, the Portuguese Football Association announced Monday.
He will replace him in coach Fernando Santos' squad, Sporting defender Luis Netto, as announced in a statement issued by the local association.
The Porto club indicated that Bibi (38 years) suffers from "a muscle injury in his right thigh" which he suffered during his team's match against Portimonense (2-1) in the local league.
Pepe performed heroically in the Champions League final price, and led his team to Porto to the quarter-finals at the expense of Juventus, to strike a date with Chelsea, England.
The Portuguese national team will start its qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup against Azerbaijan in Turin, Italy, in a match that was transferred from Lisbon for health reasons.
The European champions will then move to Serbia and then to Luxembourg three days later.
The Portuguese national team suffered a severe blow by concussing its original goalkeeper, Roy Patricio, while he was in the ranks of his club, Wolverhampton, and replaced him by Jose Sa, goalkeeper of Greek Olympiacos.
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