Belgium meet Portugal at La Cartuja, Seville, Spain as two of the title contenders collide in a blockbuster Round of 16 clash at Euro 2020.
Roberto Martinez’s Red Devils advanced to this stage as Group B winners, whereas Portugal escaped the Group Stage as one of four best third-placed teams.
Team News
Belgium have no fresh injury concerns to report with a full squad available for selection as Martinez looks set to name an unchanged line-up from Monday’s win over Finland.
Portugal also boast no fresh injury concerns to report as manager, Fernando Santos ponders naming an unchanged line-up despite Bruno Fernandes looking for a start following an entertaining 2-2 draw against France on Wednesday.
Stat Attack
- This is Belgium’s first-ever meeting against Portugal at a major tournament.
- Belgium are winless in five clashes against Portugal this century (D2, L3).
- Portugal won just two of nine clashes against Belgium when playing as the ‘away’ team (W2, D3, L4).
- No midfielder had better passing accuracy in the Group Stage than Belgium’s Axel Witsel who completed 109 of his 112 passes for an average of 98.5%.
- All five of Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals in Group F for Portugal came inside of the box.
Prediction
Having endured a difficult match against Finland on Monday in which they had to be patient despite dominating the game comfortably, Belgium definitely come into this game in good stead because I can see it being more of the same given Portugal’s contrasting defensive and attacking play.
Speaking of the reigning champions, they have the quality up front but have defensively looked shambolic in their last two matches, especially when they weren’t on the front foot against France on Wednesday which they cannot repeat if they want to continue their title defence.
On that note, I have a feeling that Belgium might try to play on the counter-attack early on as they work out how to get on top of Portugal, before applying the pressure as the match wears on because they will have the advantage of 48 hours rest which could well be key if need extra time.
Prediction: Belgium 2-1 Portugal
Result: Belgium 1-0 Portugal
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