Portugal and the Czech Republic will face off in the final game of matchday one at Euro 2024 on Tuesday night. So far, it has been a tournament for the favourites, but can the Czech Republic spring a shock in Leipzig?
Portugal is expected to be a strong contender in the tournament. The general consensus is that they are up there with France and England as favourites. Their form, however, hasn't been great in the build-up, so the Czechs shouldn't be written off.
The Czech Republic, meanwhile, have won their last five matches so confidence will be high within the squad. Could they enjoy another tournament as dark horses?
How the bookies view it: Portugal go in as favourites
Portugal are unsurprisingly the favourites to win the match with the bookmakers, who have overlooked their patchy form and sided with their incredible attacking players. Portugal are priced at 1/2 to win with Betfred, while the Czech Republic are 11/2. The draw is tempting at 10/3.
Recent head-to-head: Promising signs for Portugal
If Portugal fans are feeling a little nervy coming into the match, then they ought to look at their nation's record against the Czech Republic. In five previous meetings, they have won four with the Czech's last win coming back in 1996.
They last faced each other in the 2022 UEFA Nations League with Portugal winning both matches by an aggregate score of 6-0.
Last five H2H duels:
- 24/09/2022 (UEFA Nations League) – Czech Republic 0-4 Portugal
- 09/06/2022 (UEFA Nations League) – Portugal 2-0 Czech Republic
- 21/06/2012 (EURO) – Czech Republic 0-1 Portugal
- 11/06/2008 (EURO) – Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal
- 23/06/1996 (EURO) – Czech Republic 2-1 Portugal
Players to watch: A tournament at the right time for Bruno Fernandes?
Portugal's midfield strength has been well-documented in the build-up to Euro 2024 and for good reasons. Roberto Martinez possesses unbelievable talent in the middle of the park with Bernardo Silva, Vitinha, Joao Neves and Joao Palhinha all at his disposal.
However, the standout Portuguese midfielder is Bruno Fernandes and the Manchester United talisman comes into the tournament in red-hot form. He finished the season with seven goals and four assists in Manchester United's final nine games of the season and then scored a brace in Portugal's friendly with Finland at the start of June.
The Czech Republic's biggest danger man will be Patrik Schick. The Bayer Leverkusen striker returned from a long injury lay-off midway through the season and finished the campaign with 12 goals.
Predicted lineups
There are some big decisions for Roberto Martinez to make on Tuesday night. First of all, he can only realistically pick three central midfielders while he will also have to make a call on whether to start a 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Czech Republic, meanwhile, are missing an important player in Michal Sadilek due to injury. Two familiar faces for English fans will be West Ham pair, Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek.
Portugal: Costa – Cancelo, Dias, Pepe, Mendes – Neves, Vitinha, Fernandes – Leao, Ronaldo, Silva
Czech Republic: Stanek – Coufal, Holes, Hranac, Krejci, Jurasek – Soucek, Provod, Barak – Kuchta, Schick
Anything else catch the eye?
So far, Euro 2024 has proved to be a tournament full of goals. At the time of writing, just two games haven't covered the over 2.5 goals market and we anticipate at least three goals being scored in this one.
Four of Portugal's last five matches have seen at least three goals scored while the same can be said for all of the Czech Republic's last five. Over 2.5 goals is priced at 8/11 at Betano UK.
This Euro 2024 match between Portugal and Czech Republic will be played on Jun 18, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Portugal vs Czech Republic prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
