Pepe down with COVID-19

Post created on 9:54 am

Portuguese Football Federation announced on Tuesday that Pepe will miss Portugal’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Turkey after testing positive for Covid-19

Coach Fernando Santos called up Lille centre-back Tiago Djalo, 21, to replace the 39-year-old Porto player, with the 2016 European champions also without injured Manchester City defender Ruben Dias.

Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates joined the national side’s training camp at Oeiras, near Lisbon on Monday.

Portugal failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1998, playing in each of the last five editions.

[AFP]