Portugal began their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 defeat in Switzerland, and will look to get back on track with two eminently winnable matches against Andorra at home (Friday) and the Faroe Islands away (Monday).

Coach Fernando Santos has continued the process that began in earnest during the European Championship in France of integrating a fabulous generation of talented youngsters into the senior Seleção team.

Raphael Guerreiro, William Carvalho, Renato Sanches and André Gomes are now “part of the furniture” of Portugal’s national team, and the double-header is likely to see more up-and-coming Portuguese stars given a chance to shine in the international arena.

Fernando Santos today announced the squad for Portugal’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Sporting’s 21-year-old winger Gelson Martins has been rewarded for his electric start to the season with a debut call-up.

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo is back after missing Portugal’s first qualifier, the defeat against Switzerland, as he had not yet recovered from the injury sustained in the Euro 2016 final.

Since our last update on Portugal’s Euro 2016 winning squad, frenzied transfer rumours linked many of Portugal’s champions with moves to new clubs, especially Sporting’s players (Rui Patrício to Man City, William to Everton, Adrien to Leicester).

One major transfer did finally go through, as João Mário headed to Inter Milan. Domestically, Rafa Silva became the most expensive ever transfer between clubs within Portugal. He had been heavily linked to Porto and then Sporting, but finally moved Benfica from Braga minutes before the transfer window shut for a fee of over €16m.

PortuGOAL continues its monthly update on the Euro 2016 winners and again focus on two players who have switched clubs. Today the spotlight falls on André Gomes, who landed in Barcelona, and Nani, who made the move from Turkish club Fenerbahce to Valencia.

Switzerland 2-0 Portugal

Two unanswered first-half goals from Embolo and Mehmedi gave Switzerland victory over Portugal in the opening Group B match of qualification for the Russia 2018 World Cup.

After a bright start the Seleção let down their guard and were hit by two goals in quick succession. Despite dominating possession for the rest of the game, Portugal found it difficult to create clear-cut chances against a well-marshalled Swiss defence.

The setback sees Portugal playing catch-up from the off, with only the group winners guaranteed a berth at the tournament in Russia. As Fernando Santos said post-match: "There is only one thing to do now. That is to win, win and win again until the end of qualification."