Fresh from dispatching European champions Italy, North Macedonia will aim to produce another giant killing when they face Portugal at the Estadio do Dragao on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the North Macedonians snatched a shock 1-0 win over the Azzurri to move to within a single win of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
🇵🇹 𝙶𝙾𝙾𝙳 𝚅𝙸𝙱𝙴𝚂😁 pic.twitter.com/xzgjyN7MHL— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) March 27, 2022
🇵🇹 𝙶𝙾𝙾𝙳 𝚅𝙸𝙱𝙴𝚂😁 pic.twitter.com/xzgjyN7MHL
Still, there is no hiding from the fact that Portugal are heavy favourites ahead of Tuesday’s play-off. Can Ronaldo and co. seal the deal?
Portugal secured a dominant 3-1 win over Turkey in the first play-off round, enjoying 60% possession while racking up 16 shots – eight of which were on target.
The Euro 2016 champions have now won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, recording one draw and one defeat along the way.
Despite losing just one of their eight qualifiers, Portugal finished second in Group A – three points behind first-place Serbia.
Although they find themselves in an unfamiliar situation, Fernando Santos’ side are expected to punch their ticket to Qatar 2022 without any major issues.
On the flip side, a 92nd-minute strike from Aleksandar Trajkovski saw North Macedonia claim a sensational last-gasp win over Italy last time out.
The Italians enjoyed 66% possession and registered a whopping 32 shots. Meanwhile, North Macedonia managed just two attempts on target.
The minnows have now lost just one of their past eight matches across all competitions and have won four of their previous five.
Having lost only one of their last ten World Cup qualifiers, they will fancy their chance of upsetting the odds once again in Portugal.
Head-to-head: Portugal and North Macedonia have only faced each other twice over the years. Unsurprisingly, Portugal remain unbeaten in this fixture.
Back in 2003, Portugal claimed a 1-0 away victory over North Macedonia. The two sides then played out a goalless draw in a friendly in 2012.
Team news: Having bagged 115 goals in 185 international games, Cristiano Ronaldo will aim to add to his tally on Tuesday.
As for North Macedonia, Elif Elmas (Napoli), Enis Bardhi (Levante) and Stole Dimitrievski (Rayo Vallecano) all operate in Europe’s top five leagues.
Although North Macedonia got the better of Italy last weekend, the chances of them repeating that feat against Portugal are slim.
Forebet predicts that both teams will score on Tuesday. However, Portugal are expected to net over 2.5 goals on their way to victory.