Portugal-Luxembourg is a match valid for the sixth day of Euro 2024 qualifying Group J and is played Monday at 8:45 p.m.: TV, lineups, predictions.
After their fifth win in as many matches, yet another while also keeping their goal unbeaten, qualification looks more and more like a formality for Portugal. The Lusitanians, as predicted, are not leaving even the crumbs to their opponents, asserting their very clear superiority from a technical point of view.
Germany, at this point, is really close for Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates, and the feeling is that the Euro 2024 pass may even come a few days early. For the moment, then, Roberto Martinez, Belgium’s former technical commissioner, has made the detractors think again, waiting, of course, for the fateful litmus tests against representative teams of the same level. The Iberians, so far, have been a roller, scoring an impressive 15 goals in total. The goal average, however, has dropped in the last two matches against Iceland and Slovakia, which Portugal won with minimal effort. In Bratislava on Friday, it was Bruno Fernandes who gave the Catalan coach another three points against a team that was able to defend and also make itself dangerous.
Portugal could virtually declare the games for the top spot closed in the match in Faro, Algarve, against surprise Luxembourg.
Holtz
The Grand Duchy’s small selection, which has been growing steadily in recent years mainly due to more and more naturalizations, is living a real dream. In five days it has totaled a beauty of 10 points (three wins and a draw) and is in the midst of a race for second place with Slovakia and Bosnia. Last June Luc Holtz’s men had accomplished a feat by going 2-0 up on Bosnian soil against Dzeko and co. And on Friday they repeated themselves, rifling three goals at Iceland, a selection that is more than 20 places ahead of them in the Fifa ranking. The only defeat, and a pretty heavy one at that, was against Portugal in the first leg, with the Lusitanians winning by a very wide score (0-6).
The prediction
Nothing more can be asked of this Luxembourg team: in fact, few expected Holtz and his men to reach double digits in points. Avoiding defeat in Portugal is almost impossible, but the goal gap probably won’t be as stark as it was in March. In any case, we imagine a prolific match, despite the absence of the disqualified Ronaldo: at least four goals total.
The probable lineups of Portugal-Luxembourg
- PORTOGAL (4-3-3): Diogo Costa; Dalot, Antonio Silva, Ruben Dias, Cancelo; Vitinha, Palhinha, Bruno Fernandes; Bernardo Silva, Gonçalo Ramos, Leao.
- LUSSEMBOURG (4-5-1): Moris; M. Martins, Mahmutovic, Chanot, Pinto; Sinani, Barreiro, C. Martins, Olesen, Sanches; Curci.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-0
