Portugal
Luxembourg
On September 11, Estádio Algarve (Faro/Loulé) will host the match of the 6th round of the Euro 2024 Qualification, in which Portugal will compete with Luxembourg. The battle will start at 20:45 CET.
Portugal
The national team, after losing in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in the previous December, “showed the door” to a long-time mentor, Fernando Santos. And the verdict, most likely, for him was not the defeat made by Morocco, but the fact that Ronaldo appeared on the field only due to the substitution in the match once again. The specialist saw it that way – still, he did not achieve enough results to outweigh Cristiano’s status as a national leader. Being under the rule of the current coach, Roberto Martinez, the veteran plays as much as he wants. And the player is useful, at least at the qualification level. As for the beginning of this segment of qualification, “the Chosen Ones” approached with twelve points after 4 matches, which is typical for few participants. The tradition was continued in the autumn in the game against Slovakia. Although it was difficult with the rival, fortunately, Bruno Fernandes made a good pass at the end of the first half, finishing it with an accurate shot – and that was the way how the team scored the only goal.
Luxembourg
The team is trying to gradually improve its performance. Still, it seems that the current status is no longer an outsider, but not even a middle peasant yet – it will be difficult to change somehow, but the progress of “the Red Lions” in the game is noticeable. There have already been obvious failures in the current cycle, first of all, a 0-6 one in the match with the Portuguese opponent. Nevertheless, Luc Holtz’s team can safely put the March goalless draw in Slovakia and especially the summer away 2-0 score in the match with Bosnia and Herzegovina into the assets. It dealt with Iceland on Friday evening as well. The opponent reduced the advantage to a minimum in the 88th minute of the game, but the hosts won confidently in the end – 3-1.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Luxembourg took the only victory back in 1961. Still, other 16 times ended in the success for Portugal.
Predictions
Bookmakers believe that everything will end with a confident, crushing victory of Portugal. Still, it is reasonable to note that Luxembourg has also gained experience, and one can try betting on the guests with “a +3.5 goal handicap” (odd: 1.66).
