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Portugal make nine changes to squad to face Armenia, Italy

Portugal coach Fernando Santos has made nine changes to his squad from his last European Championship qualifying match, with five coming in midfield.

Daniel Carrico won his first call-up Monday and will join the back line, which will be without injured Real Madrid defender Pepe.

Silvestre Varela is back and will return to the attack for the first time since the 2014 World Cup. Beto becomes one of the three goalkeeping choices.

Portugal play their next qualifier in Armenia on June 13 and meet Italy in a friendly on June 16.

Portugal lead Group I with nine points from four games, two more than Denmark and Albania, who share second place. The top two teams in each group qualify automatically for the tournament in France.

The full squad:

Goalkeepers: Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon), Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Beto (Sevilla)

Defenders: Daniel Carrico (Sevilla), Bruno Alves (Fenerbahce), Cedric (Sporting Lisbon), Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid), Jose Fonte (Southampton), Ricardo Carvalho (Monaco), Vieirinha (Wolfsburg), Eliseu (Benfica)

Midfielders: William Carvalho (Sporting Lisbon), Bernardo Silva (Monaco), Pizzi (Benfica), Andre Andre (Guimaraes), Joao Moutinho (Monaco), Adrien Silva (Sporting Lisbon), Tiago (Atletico Madrid), Danilo Pereira (Maritimo)

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Danny (Zenit St. Petersburg), Eder (Braga), Nani (Sporting Lisbon), Silvestre Varela (Parma), Ricardo Quaresma (Porto)