In Leão's absence: Portugal name heir to Cristiano Ronaldo's shirt

Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus, the Portuguese, has settled on the identity of the player who will wear the number 7 shirt during the match against Denmark this Saturday evening, as part of the fifth round of the UEFA Nations League, and has also determined the names excluded from the matchday squad.

Carlos Forbs will inherit the shirt left vacant by Cristiano Ronaldo. The Club Brugge winger is set to wear the famous number 7 for Portugal after the legend announced his international retirement at the start of November, ending a long association between the great man and the shirt.

Ronaldo closed the book on his international career at the start of November after 23 years in a Portugal shirt. It ended an exceptional era, one in which his name became tied to the number 7 and turned it into one of the most prominent symbols in the national team's history.

The former Portugal captain walks away as the most-capped player in the history of international football, with 234 matches. He also tops the list of international goalscorers worldwide with 146 goals.

Forbs will wear the number 7 against Denmark, but he won't necessarily keep it for good. Rafael Leão is the leading candidate to succeed Ronaldo on a permanent basis, according to the Portuguese newspaper "A Bola".

The winger has worn the same number before, and plenty of players carried it instead of Ronaldo before the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star made it his own at Euro 2008.

Tournament regulations require national teams to pick player numbers from 1 to 23, so someone in the current squad had to take the number 7 shirt despite the absence of the man expected to wear it permanently.

Leão misses Portugal's two current matches through injury, and that hands Forbs his chance to wear the number against Denmark.

With 27 players in camp, Jorge Jesus had to leave four out of his match squad. One exclusion was unavoidable: João Cancelo, who serves a one-match suspension.

The other three names come one from each line:

Gonçalo Inácio: the Sporting Lisbon defender, a late addition to the camp to cover the injury of Tomás Araújo.

Matheus Fernandes: the Tottenham midfielder, one of the new faces in the squad during this call-up.

Gustavo Varela: the Monza striker, who was ready to make his debut but found himself behind Gonçalo Ramos and Fábio Silva in the pecking order of out-and-out forwards.

Jesus has settled his choices ahead of the clash with Denmark in Braga. The spotlight now falls on Carlos Forbs, who wears the number 7 for the first time since Ronaldo's international retirement, if only temporarily.