Rúben Dias makes his debut in the Portugal senior national team as a starter

Rúben Dias, Benfica's centre-back, made his Portugal national team senior debut against Tunisia (2-2) this Monday, in the first preparation match for the 2018 World Cup.

A starter in Rui Vitória's team, Rúben Dias also earned Fernando Santos's confidence and was included on the 23-man squad that will represent Portugal in the Russia World Cup, from June 14 to July 15.

The youngster nurtured at Caixa Futebol Campus had already included on the National coach's list in March for the friendly matches against Egypt and Holland, but an injury prevented the debut from happening.  This Monday he entered the pitch of the Estádio Municipal de Braga for his first match for the Portugal senior national team (90 minutes),wearing the number 13 jersey.

"Obviously, I think that any Portuguese player who is fit has this objective. It is a dream come true, since I began my path in the national team that the goal was to get to this space. From here we must continue to work game by game so that the best is yet to come", he said to the journalists on the fourth day of the National team training camp, he who was Portugal's captain in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2017 and the UEFA U-19 European Championships in 2016.

On June 9, after the friendly matches against Belgium (June 2, in Brussels) and against Algeria (June 7, at Estádio da Luz), the National Team travels to Russia, where they will play against Spain, in Sochi. Apart from the Spaniards, Portugal faces Marrocos on June 20, in Moscow, and Iran, coached by Carlos Queiroz, on June 25, in Saransk, in the remaining matches of the 2018 World Cup Group B.

Text: Filipa Fernandes Garcia

Pics: FPF