Brazil players disappointed in Ronaldo's absence for friendly

Brazil defender Thiago Silva admits he is disappointed that Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo will not be available to face his side on Tuesday,

The Paris Saint-Germain stopper, fresh from the Selecao's 6-0 friendly win against Australia on Saturday, had hoped to come up against Ronaldo following his hat trick against Northern Ireland on Friday, but the Real Madrid star has been ruled out of the match at Gillette Stadium because of tendinitis.

"Portugal are a very strong team, they've been playing tough international challenges for some time now. I watched the goals [Friday], the three from Cristiano," Silva told reporters. "Someone said he's not playing, that he felt something, but who knows? It could be one of those little lies. But regardless of that, their team is really strong. We need to be ready to face them.

"I'm not happy that he [Cristiano] is out. It's always a sad thing to see a fellow footballer getting injured. We had that today with Marcelo. A player of Cristiano's caliber should always be fit to play, because that makes any match automatically better."

Chelsea star Oscar also expressed his sadness that the Real Madrid will not be able to play.

"It's a pity that Cristiano Ronaldo won't be there," Oscar said. "Portugal have a great team; it's not just him. They have other good players. It will be a tough challenge."