Jorge Jesus named a 28-man Portugal squad on Friday. By Monday, his left-back position was empty. Nuno Mendes was already injured, Lazio's Nuno Tavares came off at halftime in Naples on Sunday, and the Portuguese federation ruled him out. The replacement is Monaco's Flávio Nazinho, a 23-year-old with no senior caps who scored at the Parc des Princes this season and is now, as Lente Desportiva put it, the only natural left back in the group.
Three players out in one statement
Tavares was not the only casualty of the weekend. The federation's statement on Monday said Tavares, Benfica center back Tomás Araújo and Galatasaray forward Rafael Leão had all been assessed by its health and performance department and were not fit for the Nations League games against Denmark and Wales.
Leão's injury was the most serious. Galatasaray diagnosed "a severe strain, with bleeding" in the muscles at the back of his right thigh after he left Saturday's 4-3 win over Amedspor, according to Notícias ao Minuto. Tavares was substituted at the break of Lazio's 1-1 draw with Napoli with a muscle complaint, and Araújo was hurt in Benfica's 3-2 win at Estrela da Amadora.
Jesus called up two players. Sporting's Gonçalo Inácio, a regular who had been left out of Friday's list, came back in for Araújo. No one replaced Leão. And for the left-back spot, Jesus went to someone who had never been in a senior squad.
Who Nazinho is
Nazinho came through Sporting's academy, where he played 11 times for the first team under Ruben Amorim before leaving, according to Portugoal. He spent time in Belgian football before joining Monaco in the summer for a reported €5 million.
At Monaco he has become the first-choice left back under Filipe Luís, with 14 appearances, one goal and two assists this season, per Lente Desportiva. The goal came in a 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes, the home of the injured Mendes. Monaco announced the call-up on their own website before the federation did.
The defender kept his reaction modest. "It's a dream, certainly! But I'm not the type of person who wants to rush things. I want to do things step by step," Nazinho told Monaco's club media.
A window built for new faces
The timing helps him. Portugal have 12 points from 12 and are already through to the Nations League quarterfinals, so these last two group games carry little risk. Jesus said after securing qualification that he would use them to look at new players, and his list already included Mateus Fernandes, Gustavo Varela, Rodrigo Mora and Geovany Quenda.
That youth push started in a squad without Cristiano Ronaldo, who retired from international football this month, which made last week's list the first of a new era.
Portugal host Denmark at the Estádio Municipal de Braga on Saturday and visit Wales in Cardiff on Tuesday. With Mendes and Tavares out, the left side of the defense will be one of the clearest tests of Jesus's experiment, and Nazinho, the only specialist available, has a real chance to make his debut in Braga.
