Armenia coach: Even if Portugal doesn’t have Ronaldo, the gap between us is still huge

November 16th Armenia is about to face Portugal in the World Cup preliminaries. Armenian national team coach Egishe Melikyan downplayed the impact of Ronaldo’s absence. He said that no matter who plays, the gap between the two teams is always large and multifaceted.

He said: "Ireland has proven that anything is possible in the football world, which obviously encourages us, but we also know that there is a huge gap between Armenia and Portugal. They have so many top players. It is true that Ronaldo will not play, but others also have extremely high standards and are playing in the world's top leagues. Strong players will be there. No matter who plays, it will be very difficult for us."

Armenia has already been determined to miss the World Cup, so the head coach said: "We have no pressure to come here. We have a responsibility to represent our country. This in itself is of great significance. Try to see how they react in certain types of situations. Things were very difficult for us in September, but now we are better prepared and will definitely show a better image and I believe we can play a good game and compete with Portugal."

"What happened in that game in September, we. It was discussed in the dressing room, let's leave it in the past. The gap is huge, Portugal has top players who need to be respected, but my players were not tenacious enough. This is where we have to improve, forget who the opponent is, play for our country, for our flag, we will play with the ambition to win."