Cristiano Ronaldo has issued a passionate battle cry ahead of Portugal 's crucial week of World Cup qualifiers.
The Manchester United superstar recently became FIFA's all-time record goalscorer with a stunning hat-trick in the Red Devils' 3-2 Premier League win over Tottenham, and he'll be hoping to add to the tally in the coming days. Quite the challenge lays ahead, however, as Portugal's World Cup hopes hang perilously in the balance.
Having missed out on automatic qualification to Qatar after being pipped to Group A top spot by Serbia in controversial fashion, Portugal must negotiate two tricky play-off games to ensure Ronaldo reaches what is likely to be his final World Cup. The Euro 2016 winners must first overcome Turkey before potentially having to beat current European champions Italy to secure qualification.
Ahead of Portugal's clash with Turkey in Porto on Thursday, Ronaldo sent out a defiant message, declaring that his nation will "fight to put Portugal in our rightful place." In an impassioned Instagram post, the 37-year-old wrote: "Total focus on World Cup 2022.
"Proud as always to represent Portugal. We know the road won't be easy, we have the utmost respect for the opponents we will face and who share the same goals as us. But, together, we will fight to put Portugal in our rightful place. Let's do this."
However, Portugal will have to do so without a number of their senior men. Both Joao Cancelo and Renato Sanches will miss the Turkey clash after picking up suspensions and they have been joined on the list of absentees by another four high-profile names.
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Ruben Dias and Nelson Semedo are still recovering from injury lay-offs, while Ruben Neves picked up a knock in Wolves ' dramatic defeat to Leeds on Friday. Things have gone from back to worse for Portugal following the news that veteran defender Pepe has also contracted Covid-19.
It is expected that a number of those names, including Pepe, could be in contention for next week's final qualifying play-off, should Portugal overcome Turkey. A mouth-watering encounter with Euro 2020 winners Italy could potentially await, should Roberto Mancini's men get past North Macedonia in Palermo on Thursday.
Despite Portugal being forced to field a depleted side, Ronaldo, who scored netted six times in the group stage - more than any of his compatriots - is clearly fired up. With seven goals across four tournaments, the iconic No.7 is Portugal's second highest goalscorer in World Cup history - second only to the legendary Eusebio who notched nine.
Should Ronaldo qualify for the Qatar tournament scheduled to take place in late November, he would join an exclusive club of players to have competed at five different World Cups - alongside Lothar Matthaus, Rafael Marquez and Antonio Carbajal.
Speaking ahead of Thursday's clash with Turkey, Portugal coach Fernando Santos underlined the importance of the upcoming week, labelling it "the most important challenge" of his eight-year tenure, despite having lifted the Euro 2016 trophy and reached the last-16 of the 2018 World Cup. Santos declared: "It's simple: we need to win, nothing else matters.
"This is the most important challenge I had as Portugal manager. Not the most difficult, the most important. We must be in the World Cup for our people. The tickets were sold out in minutes more than a month ago. Our fans will be a major factor and we can't let them down."
