Portugal vs Austria Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Jun 16, 2016 @ 01:24 am

Next Saturday, 18th of June 2016, a somewhat disheartened Portugal will measure forces with a fragilized Austria at Parc des Princes in Paris for their second match at Group F.

Portugal did nothing better than a lacklustre performance against the debutants Iceland last time out. The Portuguese team, lead by Real Madrid’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, failed to unmount the defensive wall that was built by the Iceland and have only managed to score once out of a total of 27 goal attempts.

Fernando Santos sprung a few surprises in the starting line-up, fielding 22-year old left back Raphaël Guerreiro, FC Porto’s powerful midfielder Danilo and Nani upfront instead of Ricardo Quaresma, who missed several training sessions during the week due to a small injury.

Portugal lacked consistency throughout the match and after opening the score in the first-half by former Manchester United’s winger Nani, they allowed Iceland to grab the equalizer after the break by Bjarnason.

Portugal need to improve in order to return to winning ways next Saturday and Fernando Santos will probably introduce some changes in the starting XI for the match against Austria. For that particular match, the Portuguese manager is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the services of Danilo, who suffered a back injury last Wednesday.

As for Austria, they fell short of expectations after being defeated by their neighbours and rivals of Hungary last time out. Austria pulled off a somewhat disappointing overall performance and failed to overcome their opponents’ excellent organization back in defence and in the centre of the pitch.

Austria’s head coach Marcel Koller knows the importance of the upcoming match and he will need to rally the troops in order to claw the three points against a fairly complicated opponent such as Portugal, otherwise, his team might say goodbye to the European Championship already next Saturday.

Aleksandar Dragovic, who is one Austria’s most influential players, was sent off in the match against the Magyars and will miss next Saturday’s important fixture against Portugal. Talented playmaker Zlatko Junuzovic is recovering from an ankle injury and is a doubt out there.

Portugal

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - DWLWW

Austria

Stats: W-2 L-3 D-0

Recent Form - LLWLW

Possible Line-ups

Portugal (4-3-3) – Rui Patricio - Vieirinha - Pepe - Ricardo Carvalho - Eliseu - William - Moutinho - André Gomes - Nani - Quaresma - Ronaldo

Austria (4-3-3) – Almer - Klein - Hinteregger - Garics - Fuchs - Baumgartlinger - Alaba - Junuzovic - Arnautovic - Harnik - Janko

Injury List / Suspended Players

Portugal - Danilo (in doubt)

Austria - Dragovic (sus) - Junuzovic (in doubt)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions