Portugal vs France Euro 2016 Final Match Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Jul 08, 2016 @ 02:30 am

Next Sunday, 10th July of 2016, a surprising Portugal will measure forces with the tournament hosts, France, at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, for the Euro 2016 final.

Fernando Santos rallied his troops for the match against Wales last Wednesday and, after a hand full of underachieving performances, Portugal rose up to overcome a mighty Welsh side. It was a drab match during the first-half, but Cristiano Ronaldo’s powerful header early after the break helped Portugal to build up a solid win. Three minutes later, Valencia’s new winger Nani netted Portugal’s second goal of the night and shredded all of the Welsh hopes of booking a place in the tournament final.

The Portuguese team’s performances have been deeply criticized by pundits since their opening match against Iceland, but with his own quiet way of being Fernando Santos has managed to motivate his players throughout the tournament and now they have the unique opportunity of defeating France and claw the first major trophy for the Portuguese National Team.

Real Madrid’s centre back Pepe missed the match against Wales last time out and is also likely to fail the upcoming fixture due to injury. Borussia Dortmund’s left back Raphael Guerreiro made his way back into the team last Wednesday, after recovering from injury, and will certainly be of good use for the final match next Sunday.

As for France, the tournament hosts showed once again great character during the Semi-finals match against Germany last Thursday and, because of that, they have managed to claw an impressive 2-0 over the current World Champions. Two goals from versatile Atlético Madrid’s forward Antoine Griezmann were enough to halt the German Panzer and place France in the Final.

Similarly to what happened to Portugal, the French team also had a slow start in the tournament and struggled to overcome both Romania and Albania during the Group stage matches. In fact, the only solid performance France put up happened against Iceland in the tournament Quarter-finals, when Les Bleus won the match by 5-2.

For the upcoming super clash against Portugal, Didier Deschamps will apparently be able to rely on the services of all his players, since so far there aren’t any names in the team’s injury list.

Portugal

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - WWWDD

France

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WWWDW

Possible Line-ups

Portugal (4-1-3-2) – Rui Patricio - Cédric - Bruno Alves - José Fonte - Raphael Guerreiro - William - Renato Sanches - Adrien - João Mário - Nani - Ronaldo

France (4-2-3-1) – Lloris - Sagna - Umtiti - Koscielny - Evra - Pogba - Matuidi - Payet - Sissoko - Griezmann - Giroud

Injury List / Suspended Players

Portugal - Pepe (in doubt)

France - None

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions