Advanced Gustavo Varela, one of the first in the Portuguese team, praised coach Jorge Jesus and stated that Cristiano Ronaldo is his idol in football.
© FPF
11/11/2026
by
Lusa
O gustavo Varela, one of the first in the call of the Portuguese team, today left praise to coach Jorge Jesus and assumed that his idol in football was always Cristiano Ronaldo.
In statements released by the Portuguese Football Federation, the 21-year-old player considered that the call to the main team of Portugal “is like a trophy” and ensured that he is standing well on the ground, despite the success with Monza in the Italian championship, in leads the list of best scorers with nine goals.
“ I try to enjoy the moment, because you never know tomorrow. That's what players' lives are. We don't know tomorrow. It can change from one moment to the next. I just have to keep working so that, if this changes, it is not a drastic change, he said.
Varela confessed that it has been easy to integrate into the national selection and that it has adapted very well to the ideas of the selectioner Jorge Jesus.
“ He's a coach who's very good with the players. He's very good at conveying his ideas. He also likes to be with the players, to play his games. This makes it much easier for players to feel good and integrate into the group”, he said.
The advanced graduate at Benfica explained that he likes to observe the way other players act in their position as a way to “learn” and “get more complete”, but idol always had only one.
“Cristiano Ronaldo, of course, from the Portuguese team, I grew up watching him play,” he concluded.
The national team faces Denmark on Saturday, in Braga, on the fifth day of the A4 Group of the League of Nations, in a match that will be sold out.
After this duel, Portugal, which has already secured the final rooms and needs only one point to confirm the first place, visits Cardiff on Tuesday to measure strength with Wales at the farewell of the group.
These will be the first games since Cristiano Ronaldo officially left the national team, after 23 years, 234 games and 146 goals.
Only with victories in the first four days, Portugal leads the group with 12 points, followed by Denmark, with six, while Wales and Norway add up to three, and the fight for the second qualifying wave is open.