Portugal-Croatia is a match valid for the first day of the Nations League group stage and is played Thursday at 8:45 p.m.: stats, free streaming, likely lineups, prediction.
Roberto Martinez’s Portugal starts again from the Nations League and does so a few months after an underwhelming European Championship, in which the selection led by the Spanish coach could certainly have done more, especially after dominating far and wide in the qualifiers.
The path of the Lusitanians stopped at the quarterfinals, which represented the minimum goal. The executioner of Cristiano Ronaldo and co. was France, who got the better of them on penalties after a boring 0-0 draw. Portugal ended the knockout stage without scoring a single goal: even against Slovenia in the round of 16, the challenge had been decided by the penalty spot after a goalless draw. Croatia, considered one of the potential outsiders in the continental tournament, did worse. The Vatreni, who evidently arrived at the end of a resounding cycle (second at the 2018 World Cup and third in Qatar in 2022), failed to qualify for the knockout stage, collecting no wins between Spain, Albania and Italy. The federation in any case has confirmed technical commissioner Zlatko Dalic, who in turn for the first matches of the 2024-25 Nations League has summoned almost all the “old guard,” from Modric and Perisic, with the exclusion of only Brozovic (the former Inter player has said goodbye to the national team). Portugal will also have all the bigs: compared to Euro 2024, the only absentee is defender Pepe, who after his adventure in Germany decided to bid farewell to soccer.
Share comparison
Portugal’s win is listed at 1.53 on Goldbet and Lottomatica and 1.55 on Snai. In contrast, the “Goal” sign is quoted at 1.95 on Goldbet and Lottomatica and at 1.90 on Snai.
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The Prediction
The last two official meetings between these two selections were played right in the Nations League, in 2020. And it was Portugal that won both matches (4-1 in the first leg and 2-3 in the return). In the pre-European friendly match staged last June, on the other hand, the Croatians prevailed 2-1 on Lusitanian soil. Given the desire for redemption on the part of the two national teams, we expect a hard-fought match, in which both sides are likely to score. Portugal slightly favored.
Portugal-Croatia
likely lineups.
PORTOGAL (4-2-3-1): Diogo Costa; Diogo Dalot, Ruben Dias, Gonçalo Inacio, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, Palhinha; Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota; Cristiano Ronaldo.
CROATIA (4-3-3): Livaković; Stanisic, Sutalo, Pongracic, Gvardiol; Kovačić, Modric, Pasalic; Sucic, Kramaric, Budimir.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
