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Cristiano Ronaldo's return to the Portugal national could not inspire the team to a win as the defending champions were held to a draw by Ukraine in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier.
As is the case with Lionel Messi, Ronaldo missed six international games after Portugal crashed out of the FIFA World Cup in Russia last summer.
The Juventus star was denied twice by Ukraine shot stopper Andriy Pyatov in a game that saw Portugal dominating with 18 shots compared to their opponents' two.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos, however, refuses to focus on the sole performance of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner during the game, maintaining that it is the performance of the team as a whole that matters.
Speaking in a post-match conference, he said. "t is not the solution not to be in Cristiano's head – with Cristiano or without Cristiano. What matters is Portugal and Portugal didn't win. The players are not satisfied."
"They obviously have big experience as they play in big clubs, but they are dissatisfied, which is obviously normal. But now we have to think about the next game. And even with Cristiano or without Cristiano. This isn't the point."
"We have to think about the collective moment of the team and don't focus on the question of having or not having Cristiano to play."
Meanwhile, Messi, who also made his return to the Argentina national team on Friday, faced a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Venezuela.
Portugal are next scheduled to face Serbia on Monday and will hope to make up for the disappointing showing last night. Should the team miss out on the top two in Group B, they are still guaranteed a play-off spot courtesy of their reaching the Nations League semi-finals.
Fans have since taken to Twitter to react to the result
