Robert Lewandowski-led Poland will face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the first quarterfinal of the UEFA Euro 2016. The match will be played at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and the team winning this clash will face the winner of the match between Wales and Belgium in the semifinals.
Both the teams have given a mixed performance in the tournament so far. While Portugal somehow crawled their way to the quarterfinal after defeating Croatia by a solitary Quaresma goal, Poland trumped a charged up Switzerland team in a penalty shootout to qualify for the quarters.
Adam Nawaka, Poland’s coach has said that he thinks that his side have shown what they are capable of and that they know their strengths and weaknesses. Nawalka also talked about Lewandowski who has failed to score a goal in the tournament thus far.
“I think we have proved what we're capable of but let's wait until the match. We know our strengths and that we are capable of going through. It's no surprise that we've got results at this tournament. We've been making good progress and we expect to deliver a high level of football.
“Portugal are a team with great potential who like to attack, but they can also defend. What's very clear is that when they recover possession, they are very dangerous on the counterattack. We're expecting a difficult match but we want to control it according to our own game plan.
“Robert Lewandowski is a very important player. He's performing a very important role as a captain. He's in very good physical and mental shape and is doing a great job for us.”
On the other hand, Fernando Santos, Portugal’s coach, who was managing Greece at the Euro 2012 and faced Poland in the tournament said that there are no favourites in the match and both the teams have 50-50 chances.
“We [Greece] faced Poland in the opening game four years ago and I remember it quite clearly. But tomorrow's match has nothing to do with the 2012 one. My counterpart believes Poland will go through; I believe we will go through. There are no favourites – it's 50-50.
“Everybody is talking about Cristiano Ronaldo and there's a reason for that – he's an amazing player. There are hundreds of players here we don't talk about every day, but it's normal to talk about players like Ronaldo or Lewandowski. Ronaldo knows how to deal with that.
“It's going to be a balanced game, although I don't think Poland resemble any team we've played so far. They're a very strategic team. They go from defence to attack very quickly and you can tell a lot of work has been done behind the scenes. When we have the ball ourselves, we'll try and take advantage of their weak points.”
Live Stream and kick-off time
The match will be live from 00:30 IST (Friday), 20:00 BST (Thursday). Watch live streaming of Poland vs Portugal on SonyLIV. Follow Poland vs Portugal, Euro 2016 Live Score and Commentary with Sportskeeda. The match will be telecasted live on Sony Six and Sony Six HD in India, ESPN in the USA and ITV 1 in the UK. The match will be played at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.
Team News
For Poland Bartosz Kapustka is available for selection again after missing the clash against Switzerland due to suspension.
For Portugal, Andre Gomes and Raphael Guerreiro have returned for training and most likely will start for them after picking up some muscular problems in their round-of-16 clash against Croatia.
Probable Line-up
Poland (4-4-2): Fabiaski; Piszczek, Glik, Pazdan, Jedrzejczyk; Baszczykowski, Krychowiak, Maczynski, Grosicki; Milik, Lewandowski.
Portugal (4-4-2): Rui Patrício; Cédric, Fonte, Pepe, Guerreiro; Silva, William Carvalho, Sanches, Mário; Nani, Ronaldo.
Form Guide (Most recent first)
Poland – DWDWD
Poland have won two of their last five matches. Their last match against Switzerland ended in a 1-1 stalemate and the result was decided by penalty shootouts, where Granit Xhaka missed for the Swiss and Poland’s all five takers converted their penalties.
Portugal – WDDDW
Portugal are lucky that they qualified for the knockouts aftewr drawing all their three group stage matches. Their performance in the round-of-16 was also below average and they somehow managed to score and get into the quarters.
Head to head record
- Poland and Portugal have met each other twice in international tournaments previously, with both the teams winning one each.
- Poland have not lost to Portugal in their last three fixtures. (W-1, D-2)
- They last met in February 2012, a match which ended in a 0-0 draw.
Prediction
Portugal have had a dismal tournament and they’ve been lucky that they find themselves in the quarterfinals. Poland, on the other hand, have been far from convincing as well. However, given the gravity of the situation, one can expect that both the superstars, Ronaldo and Lewandowski, will raise their game and help their team qualify for the last-four. We predict a 2-1 win for Portugal.
