The result of this mouth-watering tie will definitely lose one of the tournament favourites as a winner is a must.
Belgium will go into the game more confident though as they have three wins out of three and have kept two out of three clean sheets where they are flying high.
Portugal will take confidence from their draw with France although they were annihilated at the hands of Germany beforehand, they will be looking to get through to the next stage of their journey to keep their hands on this trophy.
- Head to head:
In their last five previous meetings Portugal have W3, D2 scoring nine and conceding just three goals along the way.
- Odds:
Belgium are 2/45 to win the game and Portugal are 3/10 to win the game.
- Previous defensive record:
Belgium come into this tie with three wins out of three and wrapped up their group stage with a 2-0 win over Finland. Portugal however have had a mixed bag of results W1, D1, L1 and come into this tie on the back of a 4-2 loss to Germany and a 2-2 draw with France.
- Players to watch:
Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku has only lost twice when scoring for Belgium (W36, D4, L2), while Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is the Euro’s top goal scorer both in this tournament and all-time where he sits on 109 goals for his country and is now just one strike away from being the all-time top international goal scorer.
- Team News:
Timothy Castagne (Belgium) is out with a face injury. Nuno Mendes (Portugal) is out with a thigh injury.
Misses next match if booked: Thorgan Hazard (Belgium)
Misses next match if booked: Ruben Dias (Portugal)
- Predicted Line-ups:
Belgium possible line-up: Courtois; Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Vertonghen; Meunier, De Bruyne, Witsel, T. Hazard; Carrasco, Lukaku, E. Hazard
Portugal possible line-up: Rui Patrício; Nélson Semedo, Rúben Dias, Pepe, Guerreiro; Palhinha, Renato Sanches, João Moutinho; Bernardo Silva, Ronaldo, Diogo Jota
Team view:
Roberto Martínez, Belgium coach: “Portugal will not be an easy opponent but we have been preparing for these games for many months. Whether you face them now or at a later stage, that should not make a difference. As a team you always have to be ready to perform.”
Toby Alderweireld, Belgium defender: “What’s the best way to stop Ronaldo? As a team. That has always been our strength. I know the media focus on Cristiano but they have so much quality. We should not underestimate Bernardo Silva – he’s an incredible player – and Diogo Jota. They have a lot of guys who can score a goal out of nowhere. We certainly do not underestimate them.”
Last six form guide:
Belgium: WWWWDW
Portugal: DLWWDW
As there has to be a loser one of these big hitters will be on the plane sooner than they thought after coming through their group stages.
Belgium have cruised through in their fifth consecutive knockout stage appearance at a major tournament and with four of their seven goals so far arriving in the 70th minute or onwards, it hasn’t been all plain sailing for the Red Devils but two clean sheets either side of a gutsy come-back win against Denmark showed their championship credentials and they will be looking to go one better than their third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup by making only their second major tournament final.
Portugal will have confidence with the fact they are defending champions, but they just about escaped the Group of Death with their placed finish by (W1, D1, L1) and arrive at their eighth consecutive European Championship knockout stage.
The current holders will want to do all they can to win it again however the Red Devil’s stand in their way and will aim to get their hands on this trophy for the very first time in their history.
