Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
The best European player of 2014 has ben left out of the roster named by Paulo Bento due to ‘unfitness’.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of the Portugal squad that will host Albania in Aveiro as confirmed by the Portuguese Football Federation on Friday. The Portuguese team will play their first Euro 2016 qualifying match on September 7th without their main man due to ‘unfitness’.

According to Portugal manager Paulo Bento, Ronaldo was ruled unfit to play.

"[Ronaldo's] fitness, regardless of whether he has played regularly, does not allow him to compete according to our medical department." 

The 29-year-old forward has been suffering from various injuries during recent months; a tendinitis in his left knee and frequent muscular issues. Although he has received treatment for those injuries, he apparently hasn’t fully recovered. 

Cristiano played the whole match in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win against Sevilla in the UEFA Supercup on August 12th. He also featured in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup against Atlético but had to leave the pitch at half-time. For the second leg, he came on as a sub in the second half but couldn’t do much as Real Madrid ended up losing 1-0. On Monday, Ronaldo played the 90 minutes in Madrid’s 2-0 win against Córdoba and managed to score his first goal of the season. 

On Thursday, Cristiano won this year’s Best Player of Europe award given by UEFA. 

Full Portugal roster:

Goalkeepers (3): Eduardo (Dínamo Zagreb), Rui Patrício (Sporting) y Anthony Lopes (Lyon)

Defenders (8): Joao Pereira y Rúben Vezo (Valencia), André Almeida (Benfica), Fábio Coentrao y Pepe (Real Madrid), Antunes (Málaga), Ricardo Costa (Al-Sailiya, Qatar) y Neto (Zenit)

Midfielders (7): William Carvalho y Adrien Silva (Sporting), Miguel Veloso (Dínamo Kiev), Raul Meireles (Fenerbahçe), Joao Moutinho (Mónaco), André Gomes (Valencia) y Pedro Tiba (Braga)

Forwards (6): Nani (Sporting), Vieirinha (Wolfsburg), Bruma (Galatasaray), Éder (Braga), Ivan Cavaleiro (Deportivo La Coruña) y Ricardo Horta (Málaga).