What would Portugal's Euro 2020 squad have looked like?

Had everything gone to plan, excitement would have been growing with every passing day across the continent right about now as the beginning of what would have been Euro 2020 continues to rapidly approach.

June 12th would have been the start of the 62nd edition of the competition. Portugal, placed in Group F alongside both France and Germany in one of the most menacing groups ever seen in international football, faced a thrilling task just to get to the knockout stages, and though that was something that filled all Selecao fans with a feeling of dread, there was also a great deal of enthusiasm for the exceptional impending challenge. After all, matches against the greats of European football such as France and Germany, who are the two most recent winners of the World Cup no less, is what the tournament is all about.

Sadly, however, we’ll have to wait a whole year until we get the chance to see how the tournament unfolds - an understandable and neccessary precaution, but a disappointing turn of events nonetheless.

That, however, doesn’t stop us from thinking about what would have been had the tournament gone ahead. And while speculation as to who would have won the competition is often the dominant conversation when it comes to Euro 2020, here we take a couple of steps back and propose a different, perhaps even more controversial question: who would have been included in Fernando Santos’ 23-man squad?

The goalkeepers

No question about the main man between the sticks that Fernando Santos would have elected. Rui Patricio would have remained the national team number one. As for his two deputies, an interesting development regarding Portugal’s goalkeeping options is that Lyon shot-stopper Anthony Lopes has recently made himself available to the national team again, having taken a short break from international duty in the aftermath of the 2018 World Cup.

That announcement only came at the end of May, though, after the European Championship had already been cancelled, and therefore he may well have still been unavailable for selection had Euro 2020 gone ahead as scheduled. For that, it’s predicted that he wouldn’t have been included in Fernando Santos’ squad.

Instead, Santos probably would have continued choosing the experienced Beto in what almost certainly would have been his last ever tournament for the national team, while Jose Sa, who has previously been touted as a potential successor to Rui Patricio, likely would have maintained his place in the team as the third choice ‘keeper, ahead of Tondela’s Claudio Ramos.

The centrebacks

Portugal’s central defenders largely would have chosen themselves. It’s clear that Fernando Santos has settled on Ruben Dias alongside Pepe as his main centreback pairing, a good blend of youth and experience. The other two are a little trickier to predict, though it would likely come down to five options: Ruben Semedo, Jose Fonte, Ferro, Domingos Duarte and Bruno Alves.

Some may scoff at the suggestion that 39-year old Bruno Alves could have been included, but he’s having another good season at the highest level in Italian football, and he’s supremely fit for his age. Like Maldini, he could go well into his fourties should he choose to do so.

Nevertheless, he likely wouldn’t have been chosen, while the lack of senior game time for the national team for both Ferro and Domingos Duarte would have probably discounted them too. Ferro’s also had an up and down season, so Duarte is perhaps ahead of him in the pecking order, but just behind Jose Fonte and Ruben Semedo, who are the two Santos likely would have chosen.

The fullbacks

One of the great disappointments for Portugal was the lengthy injury Ricardo Pereira suffered in March, which would have seen him miss the 2020 Euros. A major blow for Portugal, particularly after the sensational season Ricardo was having.

Amidst the great disappointment of missing Pereira, though, one crumb of comfort is right back is a position Portugal are well covered in, and therefore calling up Nelson Semedo and Joao Cancelo more than makes up for his absence, even if the latter has lacked game time this campaign.

On the left, Raphel Guerreiro, as always, would have been the man Santos would have turned to, which, in many ways, is rather unfortunate; as he continues to demonstrate for Borussia Dortmund, his attacking prowess is so effective that it is clear for all to see that he is a footballer destined to play further up the pitch. However, due to Portugal’s lack of depth at left back, his position in that role and in Portugal’s starting XI is very much indisputable.

Regarding his deputy, that would have almost certainly been Mario Rui. Spare a thought for Nuno Sequeira, though, who, aged 29, is having yet another excellent season with Braga and still hasn’t represented Portugal at senior level. More than deserving of a spot in Portugal’s Euro 2020 squad, but almost certainly would have missed out.

The midfielders

Eleven of the 23-man squad have now been discussed, with the options in midfield and attack still to consider. In the middle of the park, it’s clear that Ruben Neves and Danilo Pereira would have been chosen as the two defensive midfielders, both offering slightly different capabilities in the same role, while William Carvalho, despite having suffered an injury-hit season, would have served as the more box-to-box midfielder in the starting XI, such is the importance he serves to the Portugal national team.

It also goes without saying that Fernando Santos was simply obligated to take Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, the two Premier League stars playing out wide in Portugal’s 4-4-2 system and undoubtedly two indispensible stars in the side.

The bigger question mark would be regarding the other two central midfielders Fernando Santos would have chosen, with the likes of Pizzi, who invariably plays out wide for Benfica, Joao Moutinho, Renato Sanches and Andre Gomes, among others, vying for a spot in the team.

However, after such a stellar campaign with Lille, Renato Sanches did more than enough to get called up to the same tournament he made such a name for himself in back in 2016, due to which he even earned the accolade of Golden Boy, while the experience of Joao Moutinho would have been considered vital to Fernando Santos. This duo would have therefore almost certainly rounded off Fernando Santos’ midfield.

The forwards

Finally we come to the attacking third of the pitch, and a lot of the players will have very much picked themselves. Cristiano Ronaldo is, of course, one of them, while Fernando Santos so often turns to Goncalo Guedes, meaning he almost certainly would have been included in the 23-man squad too. The more out-and-out striker would have then come down to one of Goncalo Paciencia or Andre Silva, both currently on the books of Eintracht Frankfurt. And before the season came to a premature end, you likely would have said that Paciencia was the man Santos would have chosen, the dominant striker experiencing a very solid season. However, because of Andre Silva’s additional experience with the national team and his strong partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo, in addition to his recent upturn in form, Andre Silva likely would have got the nod.

Santos would have then chosen two more forwards who offer increased versatililty, able to operate both in that second striker role alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, and on the wing. This would have offered increased flexibility to Santos for instances where he would have chosen to deploy a 4-3-3 formation instead of his typical 4-4-2. Rafa Silva of Benfica almost certainly would have been one of the chosen players, while Diogo Jota of Wolves, who was having such a sensational season before the campaign was suspended, did more than enough to not only earn a call-up, but be very much involved in Portugal’s European campaign.

Ultimately, that means Atletico Madrid’s 120 million euro man Joao Felix would have missed out. After a solid debut season in Spain where he showed sparks of his Benfica self, he could consider himself highly unfortunate to be excluded, though injuries did inhibit his playing time throughout the campaign and it was clear that he hadn’t fully adapted to Simeone’s gameplan. He would, however, have also been safe in the knowledge that there would have still been plenty more tournaments to come for him, with World Cup 2022 well within his sights.

Now the tournament has been delayed by a year, though, who knows what the squad will look like, for better or worse, when the moment comes for Fernando Santos to name his 23-man squad. A major positive will be the return of Ricardo Pereira, while it may also allow for the likes of William Carvalho, Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix to have increased game time in the build up to the competition. A significant negative, however, is that crucial veteran players such as Pepe, Fonte and talisman Ronaldo will be another year older, while there’s then no guarantee that the likes of Jota, Guerreiro, Renato Sanches and Bruno Fernandes will be in such a rich vein of form heading into next year’s tournament.

Photo author: Анна Нэсси. License link.