Portugal vs Poland
The UEFA Nations League heads to the Estadio D. Alfonso Henriques on Tuesday night for another Group A3 clash as Portugal takes on Poland.
UEFA Nations League 2018 odds are very much in favour of the first title heading to Belgium, but Portugal is right in there with a good shout, having already won this group with a game to spare. It’s a different story for Poland though, as they are already relegated to League B. So what is there to play for? Pride of course!
Poland is a proud nation with a history of winning big games as underdogs, and in Robert Lewandowski they have a proven match-winner. But Portugal has a team blessed with attacking flair and is unlikely to show any mercy on Tuesday.
Talking points
This is a still a good game for us SBOBET UEFA Nations League fans to get our teeth into, and a chance for the coaches to experiment a little. Nobody likes losing though so we’ll see some big names. Probably not Cristiano Ronaldo though.
Just how good is Portugal?
There’s no way of keeping Cristiano out of the UEFA Nations League 2018 news, or any football news for that matter but Portugal did a job on Italy without him last week, to ensure they progress to the final stages after winning Group A3. Rui Patricio was the man of the match as Italy failed to score despite attacking from the off. He’s in the form of his life for Wolves in the Premier League and transferred that to the international stage with an accomplished display.
He commands his area well and is a brave shot stopper, a real coup for Wolves and a huge asset to the national team.
Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva scored a beauty in the return match, as Portugal ran out 2-3 winners in Poland. Seville striker Andre Silva also scored in that game and is in wonderful form for his club, with nine goals to his name already, as well as netting 14 times in 30 internationals, an impressive ratio.
Losing to Uruguay in the Round of 16 at the World Cup was a disappointment, but Oscar Tabarez’ side was one of the form teams of the competition, so a kinder draw would probably have seen Portugal progress further. This is a good group of players for sure, after all they are European Champions, but it’s a better team with Cristiano Ronaldo in it.
Can Lewandowski still inspire Poland?
One of the best and most lethal strikers in World Football, Robert Lewandowski hasn’t had the best of years. The Poles have been on a downward trajectory since the World Cup where they failed to get out of a group containing Japan and Senegal. That hurt Lewandowski and the disappointment seems to have affected the Poles since, as they have failed to register a win in the Nations League and lost a home friendly to the Czech Republic by 0-1 last week.
For most of this year Lewandowski has been heavily linked with a move away from FC Bayern, where he has been so prolific, possibly to Real Madrid as a replacement for Ronaldo. But the Bundesliga champions have been reported to be unwilling to part with their star striker for any fee. Has he become distracted? Who knows? He is Poland’s all time leading scorer with 55 goals in 102 internationals but, amazingly, hasn’t hit the target in the last eight.
Piotr Zielinski is arguably Poland’s most influential player at the moment and the Napoli midfielder could be the man to unlock Portugal’s defence.
History
In the nine meetings since 1982 Portugal has had the upper hand, winning five to Poland’s two, and the odds are heavily in favour of them making it six. The most famous victory was when Portugal beat Poland on their way to European Championship success in 2016.
Poland hasn’t won in its last five games while Portugal hasn’t lost in five, so it’s hard to see an away win at odds of 5.80, particularly as the hosts are unbeaten in the last eight games on home soil.
And Poland has never previously won in Portugal so they need to make some history.
Betting tip
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Portugal vs Poland | Under 2.25 goals @ 2.06 |
| November 21, 03:45 (GMT+8) |
In a dead rubber it’s hard to predict which players will be on show, but I think we can expect a competitive game as Portugal has an unbeaten run to preserve, while Poland wants to rediscover its form and pride.
Lewandowski will be desperate to end his dry spell but I don’t think there will be a hatful of goals, after all Poland is without a goal in the last two games.
For an alternative bet the most likely score line is 1-0 at odds of 5.20, with a 1-1 draw at 6.70.
| A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR () BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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