Portugal U21 vs Netherlands U21 prediction: EUROPE: Euro U21 – Play Offs betting tips on match 2025-06-20 16:00.
[p]Portugal eased to a 4-0 win over Georgia on matchday three of the UEFA European U21 Championships to top Group C ahead of France and earn their place in the quarter-finals. They won’t be getting carried away just yet as they were knocked out at this very stage two years ago, but based on how well they’ve done here defensively as the only team in the tournament yet to concede, they’ve laid solid foundations for a deeper run.[/p]
[p]Such form has come as something of a surprise given Rui Jorge’s side started 2025 by losing to England and Romania. Those defeats are now firmly at the back of their minds ahead of this clash with the Netherlands, against whom Portugal have an excellent recent H2H record (W4, D3, L1), but with the last five H2Hs seeing both teams score, history suggests Portugal’s defence could well be breached here.[/p]
[p]Netherlands scraped into the quarter-finals by beating Ukraine 2-0 in their final group game, having picked up just a point from the first two matchdays (D1, L1). It’s been a frustrating campaign for Michael Reiziger’s side as they needed a last-gasp equaliser against Finland (D 2-2) and were beaten 2-1 by Denmark despite racking up 28 goal attempts![/p]
[p]Unsurprisingly, given that among the quarter-finalists only England gained as few points as them in the group stage, and only Italy (three) and England (four) scored fewer than their five goals, they’ll start this game as slight outsiders. Whatever happens in this quarter-final clash, they’ve already bettered their performance from two years ago when they drew all three group games – one of them against Portugal – and exited at the group stage.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Rodrigo Gomes scored after the 60th minute in Portugal’s last two group fixtures despite starting as a substitute in both, while Luciano Valente has contributed to 60% of the Netherlands’ goals in this tournament (G2, A1), with both of his goals scored being his side’s first of the game.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Four of the last five H2Hs saw both teams score before half-time.[/p]
[p][i]Written by John Pennington[/i][/p]