Portugal vs Croatia prediction: EUROPE: UEFA Nations League – League A betting tips on match 2024-09-04 18:45.
[p]The inaugural winners of the UEFA Nations League (UNL), Portugal open up the fourth iteration of this competition by hosting the most recent runners-up, Croatia. Both suffered disappointment at this summer’s European Championships with Portugal eliminated in the quarter-finals by France, and though veteran centre-back Pepe has called time on his career, captain and record goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo ploughs on.[/p]
[p]He’s part of a 25-man squad selected by Roberto MartĂnez, who’ll be looking to guide Portugal beyond the group stage of this competition for the first time since winning it in 2018/19. The home fans ought to be confident given they’ve never lost a competitive H2H (W4), with two of those wins coming in the UNL including a thumping 4-1 home victory. It should be noted, however, that the Seleção have a split record across the last four matches they hosted in this competition (W2, L2).[/p]
[p]If Portugal were underwhelmed by their performance at the Euros, Croatia would’ve been distraught at failing to win any of their group matches (D2, L1). It was widely predicted that such disappointment would spell the end of Luka Modrić’s illustrious international career, but the midfield maestro is part of Zlatko Dalić’s squad as he looks to add to his 178 caps. In fact, should he feature in both UNL games in September he’ll draw level with Sergio Ramos as the joint-second highest capped player from a UEFA nation in history.[/p]
[p]Croatia were beaten on penalties by Spain in the final of the 2022/23 UNL, but they’ve been a mixed bag in this competition down the years. That rings especially true when they don’t have home comforts, as after losing their first five away matches in this tournament, they’ve since won each of the next four so they should be expected to put up a fight on the road here. [/p]
[p]Key battle: Now responsible for leading the Portugal backline, RĂşben Dias might fancy a goal here as two of his three international strikes came against Croatia back in 2020. He could come face-to-face with Croatia striker Ante Budimir, who has directly contributed to four goals in his last six international matches (G2, A2), with one of those strikes coming in a 2-1 H2H friendly victory in June.[/p]
[p]Hot streak: None of Portugal’s last five home UNL matches have seen both teams on the scoresheet.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Ryan Fisher[/i][/p]