Ricardo Quaresma

Fiery striker Ricardo Quaresma missed out again as Portugal named their final 23-man squad for the World Cup late Monday.

Thirty-year-old Quaresma, who was overlooked in both 2006 and 2010 finals, had made the provisional list of 30 announced last week but was among the unlucky seven to be axed by coach Paulo Bento.

Quaresma, in his second stint at Porto, has also played for Barcelona, Inter, Besiktas and United Arab Emirates side Al Ahli in his controversial career and had a brief spell on loan at Chelsea.

Besiktas terminated Quaresma’s three-year contract six months early after a troubled stay at the Turkish league club in which he clashed with then manager Carlos Carvalhal.

Nicknamed “the magician” because of his dribbles and technique, he has won 35 caps and was included in the squads at Euro 2008 and Euro 2012.

Forward Nani made the cut despite an unimpressive season with Manchester United.

“The position of national team coach carries a lot of prestige and is not immune to criticism,” Bento told a news conference.

“I have to accept that people will question my decisions. We know, Nani has different characteristics to Quaresma.”

The other six to miss out were goalkeeper Anthony Lopes (Lyon), defenders Antunes (Malaga) and Rolando (Inter), midfielders Andre Gomes (Benfica) and Joao Mario (Vitoria Setubal) and forward Ivan Cavaleiro.

The squad included 11 survivors from the 2010 World Cup campaign, when Portugal scored all seven of their goals in a single game against North Korea before going out to eventual champions Spain in the round of 16.