Portuguese star snubs Benfica return, injured for national games | OneFootball

Nélson Semedo, Fenerbahçe’s full-back, will be sidelined for about a month due to injury, thus missing Portugal’s friendly matches against Mexico and the United States, the Turkish club announced this Monday, March 2.

The 32-year-old full-back suffered a “partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee” during the match against Antalyaspor, in which he played only 20 minutes and has already started treatment. His return to the pitch is only expected in April.

As a result, the defender will not be included in coach Roberto Martínez’s squad for the preparation matches on March 28 and 31. Both games are part of Portugal’s preparations for the final stage of the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

In the summer, the player chose to move to Turkey to play for Fenerbahçe, when many people expected his return to Benfica: “I have always been very transparent with the people I spoke to, with my agent, and I always said what I thought. I felt it was too soon to return to Portugal. I take good care of myself and my body. I think I still have a few years ahead of me,” he admitted at the time.

In the 2025/26 season, wearing the Fenerbahçe shirt, Nélson Semedo – currently valued at 7.5 million euros – made 32 appearances: 19 in the Turkish league, four in the Champions League qualifying playoffs, and nine in the Europa League.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.