Wolves full-back Nelson Semedo made his return for Portugal at the weekend.
The 29-year-old featured as a second-half substitute in the 3-0 win over Bosnia, coming on for the last 15 minutes or so.
He replaced Raphael Guerreiro.
For Semedo, it was the first time he has played for his country since 2021.
Semedo’s last appearance was a World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland on November 11, 2021.
Since that game though, Semedo has not featured for his country, and since March 2022 he had not made a single Portugal squad.
But Roberto Martinez picked him this time around, feeling that Semedo’s recent form for Wolves warranted a call-up.
And on Saturday, Semedo took to the field to earn his 25th international cap.
Nelson Semedo posts on Instagram – Chiquinho, Bruno Fernandes and others respond
After the game with Bosnia, Semedo took to Instagram to share a couple of pictures from his return.
It was a proud moment for Semedo, who of course has strong competition for the full-back positions at international level.
He posted with a couple of Portuguese flags as the caption.
And there were several players in the comments section, including Wolves winger Chiquinho, who wrote ‘He’s back’, with a heart eyes emoji.
£68 million Manchester United player Bruno Fernandes, who scored a brace against Bosnia, also replied. He wrote ‘Nha máquina’, which translates to ‘my machine’.
There was also a show of support from the likes of Pedro Neto, Dan Bentley, Dexter Lembikisa and Mario Lemina, who all just left emojis.
Great to see Nelson Semedo back in the international picture with Portugal after indifferent season with Wolves
It was nice to see Semedo pulling on the Portugal shirt again after a little while.
It’s hard for him because he’s competing with the likes of Joao Cancelo, Diogo Dalot and Guerreiro.
But Martinez seemingly sees something in him, and his goal now should be to keep making squads. Hopefully he will get a start against Iceland to really prove himself to Martinez.
This summer will be important for Semedo.
He spent the whole of last summer injured, and came into 2022/23 with no pre-season under his belt.
That really affected the way he started the campaign. Hopefully next season, he will hit the ground running straight away – he has the potential to be one of Wolves’ most important players.
Julen Lopetegui really likes the player, who the club recently triggered their extension option on.