Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!
Ahead of the tournament, these were two of the three major favourites, along with England, for UEFA EURO 2024 but, such has been the nuances of the draw so far, only one of these sides will make it into the final four.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Friday 5th July, 2024 - UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – BBC / US – FOX
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer / US – ViX
PORTUGAL PREVIEW: THE ONE-MAN SHOW
Roberto Martinez’ Portugal qualified in emphatic and impressive style last year but pretty much every performance in 2024 has been a difficult one. From losing to Slovenia in a friendly in March, they then needed penalties to defeat the stubborn Slovenians in the Round of 16 earlier this week after 120 minutes of a goalless encounter.
They have now not scored since the second game as they also lost to Georgia by two goals to nil in the meantime and when you factor in the fact that two of the five goals they scored prior to that point were own goals and they needed to come from behind and score in stoppage-time to win their opener, it has been an extremely underwhelming run.
FRANCE PREVIEW: THE NO MAN SHOW
Similarly, France, who are the supposed serial international football winners, albeit they have won just one major international trophy since 2000, have squeezed themselves through to the last eight of this competition in extremely unconvincing fashion with Les Bleus yet to score a goal from open play via their own player.
Their defeat of Austria came courtesy of an own goal from Max Wober before a goalless draw with the Netherlands and then a 1-1 draw with Poland in which Kylian Mbappe scored a penalty. It was then a late Jan Vertonghen own goal that separated themselves and Belgium in their Round of 16 tie the other day.
PORTUGAL TEAM NEWS: THE CRISTIANO RONALDO DEBATE
Cristiano Ronaldo dominated proceedings against Slovenia, and memorably so, but not in the most positive sense. The Al Nassr forward is a fading force and perhaps hurts Portugal but the expectation is that only Joao Felix for Rafael Leao will be Portugal’s personnel change. Goncalo Ramos replaced the underperforming Cristiano Ronaldo at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and Portugal duly defeated Switzerland by six goals to one but that seems very unlikely this time around.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Costa; Cancelo, Pepe, Dias, Mendes; Joao Palhinha, Vitinha; Silva, Fernandes, Joao Felix; Cristiano Ronaldo
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
FRANCE TEAM NEWS: RABIOT MISSING
The suspension of Adrien Rabiot could mean two things. The first would be a straight swap and Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga comes in. The second could see Antoine Griezmann drop back into midfield and the out of form Ousmane Dembele return to the side. Dembele has been really underwhelming, though, and with Didier Deschamps' natural lean towards conservative football, an extra central midfielder is the more likely choice.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Kounde, Saliba, Upamecano, Hernandez; Kante, Tchouameni, Camavinga; Griezmann, Thuram, Mbappe
UNAVAILABLE: Rabiot (Suspended)
QUESTIONABLE:
KEY STATS
PORTUGAL VS FRANCE PREDICTION
There is a fear that this game will be quite tedious to watch for the neutral, especially given their respective Round of 16 ties on Monday. Roberto Martinez is under pressure to go deep into this tournament with a marvellous Portuguese squad, whilst France are yet to get going and that has been a theme of tournaments in which they have done well under Didier Deschamps but there is certainly more of a disconnect and lack of control than they would like. A result is tough to call but under 2.5 goals seems very likely at this stage.
PORTUGAL VS FRANCE TIP: UNDER 2.5 GOALS