Portugal and France will square off in a mouth-watering Euro quarter-final on Friday evening at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.
Both outfits laboured their way into this clash, following their narrow round of 16 wins over Slovenia and Belgium respectively.
- Portugal won three, drew one, and lost one of the last five matches in all competitions.
- France have two wins and three draws in their previous five games across competitions.
- Just one of the previous five head-to-head fixtures between Portugal and France provided three or more goals.
- None of France’s last five matches in all competitions produced three or more goals.
Both France and Belgium provided uninspired performances in the group stage of the Euro. France only drew 1-1 to already-eliminated Poland on the final day to settle for a second place in Group D.
Portugal needed a penalty shootout to get past a brave Slovenia side on Monday evening in the last-16 round.
Goalkeeper Diogo Costa proved out to be Portuguese hero on the occasion. He first denied Slovenia’s striker Benjamin Sesko in a one-on-one situation late in the second extra-time, before saving all three penalties in the shootout.
France controlled possession and had the lion’s share of chances in the outing against Belgium but Les Bleus were also lucky after late missed from Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku.
Substitute Randal Kolo Muani made the difference at the end as his strike got past Koen Casteels with a significant deflection off Jan Vertonghen.
Portugal Predicted Lineup (4-3-3 Formation)
Costa – Cancelo, Dias, Pepe, Mendes – Fernandes, Palhinha, Vitinha – Silva, Ronaldo, Leao.
Portugal Predicted Lineup (4-4-2 Formation)
Maignan – Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez – Tchouameni, Kante, Camavinga, Griezmann – Thuram, Mbappe.
