Reigning European Championship 2016 and UEFA Nations League champions Portugal head to Belgrade on Friday night in a must-win match against Serbia.
The Portuguese have played the fewest number of games thus far in Group B due to their UEFA Nations League commitments earlier this year. They have played twice in qualifying and only taken two points from six possible.
Manager Fernando Santos needs to get his side up to speed in Euro 2020 qualification if they want to reach the tournament proper automatically.
Portugal are guaranteed a playoff place at the very least for their performance in the Nations League. However, Santos and his players won’t want to put their fate in the playoffs.
Serbia have collected four points from 12 possible. Manager Ljubisa Tumbakovic’s team has been surprisingly poor. Serbia have some excellent footballers in the team including striker duo Aleksander Mitrovic and Luka Jovic. Their only win so far came against Lithuania, 4-1.
Both Serbia and Portugal are chasing Group B leaders Ukraine, who are undefeated and have tallied 10 points from 12. Ukraine have already humiliated Serbia, 5-0, in qualifying.
Portugal hosted Serbia on matchday 2 in Group B. The match finished 1-1 in Lisbon after Serbia’s Dusan Tadic opened the scoring with a seventh-minute penalty. Portugal’s Danilo scored in the 42nd minute to equalise. Although Portugal dominated the match, they couldn’t find the breakthrough.
Cristiano Ronaldo will be in the Portugal line-up and expected to run the show for the team. Santos is expected to deploy teen sensation Joao Felix next to the Juventus star as a forward duo. Felix has got off to a fast start in Spain with Atletico Madrid and will mesh well with Ronaldo.
Centre-back Pepe is out with an injury. Despite being one of the team’s ‘old men’, his veteran leadership is valuable for the Portuguese.
For Serbia, both Jovic and Mitrovic should start up top in a possible 4-4-2 formation. The duo can give Portugal plenty of problems. They are direct strikers and can bully their ways to goal.
Dusan Tadic and Filip Kostic could be deployed in wide areas and their pace down the flanks could give Portugal fits. Nemanja Matic should anchor the midfield and could play next to Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Saturday night’s match between Serbia and Portugal should be close just as their previous fixture. Now with their UEFA Nations League business complete, Portugal should be able to find the back of the net and cut through Serbia’s defence.
Expect both teams to score and over 2.5 goals as Portugal pick up three big points.