Portugal will take on France in a Group F encounter of UEFA European Championship 2020 on Wednesday in Budapest. The stakes will not be as high as it was when these two teams clashed previously in this competition, in the final of Euro 2016.
The match at PuskasArena will have a say on what positions the two teams will finish in, and it will also determine whether Portugal will play any further part in this tournament. The defending champions have had a shaky start to their title defence. While they defeated Hungary 3-0 in the first game, it has to be admitted that the scoreline does not do any justice to how the match was played out.
Hungary were rock solid in their defence, and it took Cristiano Ronaldo & Co. 84 minutes to break the deadlock. Once they got the first goal, Hungary had no option but to attack, leaving the Portuguese attackers with more spaces to exploit.
The second game against Germany was where it went all wrong for Fernando Santos’ men. Portugal got an early lead, thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal in the 15th minute. Two more goals were scored in the first half, both by Ronaldo’s teammate, but unfortunately, none were scored for Portugal.
Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro’s own goals gave the German side a 2-1 lead at half-time. Portugal got a taste of their own medicine in the second half. As they went all out to equalize, Joachim Low’s players scored two more goals. While Diogo Jota managed to pull one back in the 67th minute, it turned out to be all but a mere consolation.
On the other hand, the defending FIFA World Cup winners France started out as many had expected them to, by beating Germany 1-0. Luck was on their side in that match, as Mats Hummels kicked the ball into his own net to give Les Bleus the three points.
However, in their second game, they had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Hungary. Having bagged four points, France have already confirmed their participation in the next stage of this competition, but the group’s top position is what Didier Deschamps’ men will be aiming for.
On the other hand, given the permutations in other groups, Portugal might advance to the next round even if they lose this match. But for that to happen, they will need to have a better goal difference than Ukraine (-1) and Finland (-2), and if Hungary gets the three points against Germany, Portugal will also have to ensure that their goal difference is bigger than Germany’s. All of that being said, the simplest route of qualification will be via winning this match.
Key Players
Though now at 36, Cristiano Ronaldo is looking more agile than ever before. He scored a brace against Hungary, while against Germany, he netted Portugal’s first goal and assisted the second one. Currently the joint-highest goal-scorer of the competition, Ronaldo will need to have a big impact on this game if Portugal want to get the better of the World champions.
One of the major reasons behind Portugal’s poor performance against Germany was the no-show from Bruno Fernandes. The Manchester United midfielder was ineffective, as he had zero tackles, interceptions and shots in that match. His quality has been on display time and again for the English outfit, and Fernandes will be hoping to put up a similar shift for his national team.
The player who has been able to carry his good run of form for his club in the national colours is Kai Havertz. His goal in the 2020-21 Champions League final might have played a role in his selection in the German first XI, but the Chelsea forward has certainly justified his place. Havertz scored a goal against Portugal, while he also played his part in Dias’ own goal.
Most of Germany’s attacks have been coming down the left flank, thanks to Robin Gosens’ performance in the last two matches. The Atalanta defender had a good game against France, but it was in the match against Portugal where he showed his class. Not only did he get a goal, but Gosens was solid defensively as well.
Prediction
Portugal might have won this competition by beating France four years ago, but their head-to-head record against Les Bleus is pretty underwhelming. In fact, that particular victory is Portugal’s only win against France in the last 13 encounters between these two teams.
Besides that, France is also ahead on its current form. They might have dropped points against Hungary, but Kylian Mbappe & Co. are unbeaten in their last nine encounters. On the contrary, Portugal have lost two of their last nine matches.
Interestingly, one of those defeats was against France themselves. Hence, it will be fair to say that France will start this match as the favourites.
