New Portugal coach Roberto Martinez has explained the decision to call up Cristiano Ronaldo following his move to Saudi Arabia.
The 38-year-old left European football to complete a shock move to Al-Nassr in December after parting ways with Manchester United.
Ronaldo's experience with the national side did not go down well, as he started on the bench in their last FIFA World Cup encounters.
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There had been questions over whether Ronaldo's time with the national side had come to an end, but Martinez dispelled those rumours by calling him for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers.
"Football decisions have to be taken on the field of play. I'm not an office decision-making coach. So my starting point is to get to all the players and I want to get in touch with them," Martinez said, as per TalkSPORT.
"The list of 26 players from the World Cup is my starting point and Cristiano is a player on that list, he has been with the national team for 19 years and he deserves the respect of being able to sit down and talk.
"From there it is to create, in ten weeks, the best team for our matches, for the qualification for the European Championship. Today is a day of satisfaction. Tomorrow we will start working, getting to know all the players and Cristiano is one of them."
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