Gelson Martins will be replace Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo for Sunday’s Confederations Cup third-place play-off against Mexico at 3 pm today, after the Real Madrid star was released from the squad.
Ronaldo was allowed to return home to meet his newborn twins following Wednesday’s penalty shootout defeat to Chile in the semi-finals, Guardian Nigeria reports.
Gelson will line up alongside Nani, who captains the European champions in Ronaldo’s absence, and Andre Silva in a three-man Portugal attack in Moscow.
Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio restored Andres Guardado to his side after the PSV Eindhoven midfielder was banned after being sent off in the 4-1 loss to Germany on Thursday.
Oribe Peralta will partner Bayer Leverkusen striker Javier Hernandez up front, while 38-year-old Rafael Marquez captains Mexico in his first start of the competition.
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