The Stade de France provides the venue for one of the stand-out fixtures in this weekend’s Nations League as hosts, France, take on Portugal in this League A Group 3 clash with both teams sitting on six points apiece prior to this tasty encounter.
France bring an impressive set of results into this fixture as the hosts are unbeaten in their last nine matches overall in all competitions which includes winning eight of these nine with their last two wins being the most notable, as Les Bleus have recorded wins against Sweden 1-0 away and a 4-2 home win over Croatia.
📸Fun, smiles and full focus 😃🎯 pic.twitter.com/nIGOtCtSpH— French Team ⭐⭐ (@FrenchTeam) October 6, 2020
📸Fun, smiles and full focus 😃🎯 pic.twitter.com/nIGOtCtSpH
Indeed, since coach and former France skipper, Didier Deschamps, took over the reigns of the national side, France have become a force to be reckoned with again on the international stage and have become an extremely hard team to beat on home turf.
An unbeaten run of 19 matches at home in all competitions is indicative of France’s resilience and consistency on home soil, while seven clean sheets have also helped France become a tough opponent in recent times.
Visitors, Portugal, actually sit top of Group 3 by virtue of a slightly superior goal difference than their hosts, and they too have produced some solid and consistent results in recent times as they’ve suffered just one defeat out of their last 18 matches across all competitions.
That rare setback came in the shape of a 2-1 loss away from home at Ukraine in a European Championship qualifier last October, but they head into this clash against France having won their last four matches on the trot as they’ve chalked up wins against Lithuania, Luxembourg, Croatia and Sweden.
Just two defeats from their last 17 matches on their travels also suggests that Portugal will be a hard nut to crack, even for this impressive French outfit, while the visitors possess obvious attacking threat and quality in the shape of Ronaldo, Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Felix and Jota.
The French possess the likes of the driving force of Pogba in the midfield engine room while a forward department containing Giroud, Martial, Griezmann and Mbappe is the envy of the rest of Europe.
The intricacies surrounding this fixture though may be even more pertinent as neither side will want to relinquish the three points, so a draw may well suit both teams here.