With a new face in the hot seat, Portugal began their quest for the UEFA Euro 2024 in the first qualifying game against Liechtenstein at home.
POR vs LIE Match Details
Date: Thursday, 23 March 2023 / Friday, 24 March 2023
Time: 20:45 (CET) / 01:15 (IST)
Venue: Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon
POR vs LIE Match Preview
Portugal
The quarter-final exit to the fairy-tale Morocco side in the 2022 World Cup marked the end of Fernando Santos’s tenure as the boss of the Portugal national team. Up stepped Roberto Martinez who got down from the role of Belgium’s manager as well after failing to lead the golden generation of the nation to a trophy. The Red Devils did not even qualify for the knockouts in Qatar, ending their campaign in the group stage under him. After hitting such a low, the former Everton manager will hope his job for a new team brings the necessary highs. Martinez wishes to emulate his predecessor in winning a trophy with Portugal using another very talented side in the same competition they emerge winners in 2016. The 2024 European Championship in Germany will be the shot at revival for the side as the Selecao begin its qualifiers against Liechtenstein at home. Portugal will move away from the old hinge defensive tactics of Santos under Martinez to possession-based attacking football but fears of failing at a critical stage remain from their manager’s Belgium days.
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein have a tough start to their qualifying facing one of the elite footballing nations that too in an away game although it will be a memorable occasion for them playing against some of the top players in the world. Understandably, the guests will line up in an ultra-defensive formation to keep the opposition at bay which is their way to go about things. So far, Liechtenstein faced Portugal six times including five competitive games and were able to draw one of them. That match ended 2-2 back in 2004 in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers as the only positive outcome of the meetings. Liechtenstein were the worst-performing side in the last edition of the UEFA Nations League played last year by finishing bottom of their group with zero points, scoring once and conceding 11 times in six matches. They last won a game in 2020 with a 2-1 win over Luxembourg in a friendly and a 2-0 victory over San Marino in a competitive outing in the same year. Causing an upset in Lisbon for this struggling team is highly unfancied.
Recent Form
POR: LWLWW
LIE: LLLLL
POR vs LIE Team News
New manager Roberto Martinez called up all-time top international goal-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo despite his move to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. It divided opinions as many expected the new era will move on from the Portuguese legend irrespective of his scoring form for his new club. Nevertheless, the 38-year-old will have the chance to break yet another record on Thursday by becoming the most-capped player in the history of the sport. Ronaldo has played an unprecedented 196 international matches for his country. Veteran defender Pepe was named in the squad but pulled out due to an injury that kept him out for FC Porto’s second leg round of 16 clash against Inter Milan in the Champions League last week. The visitors, Liechtenstein have no injury concerns in the squad and included six players from FC Vaduz who featured in the Europa Conference League.
POR vs LIE Predicted Lineups
POR: Diogo Costa; Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Antonio Silva, Raphael Guerreiro; Ruben Neves, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes; Joao Felix, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Leao
LIE: Benjamin Buchel; Seyhan Yildiz, Sandro Wolfinger, Marco Wolfinger, Jens Hofer, Lars Traber; Nicolas Hasler, Aron Sele, Simon Luchinger, Sandro Weiser; Noah Frick
POR vs LIE Head to head
POR won - 6
Draw - 1
LIE won - 0
POR vs LIE Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Costa (8)
DEF: Cancelo (8.5), Yildiz (8), Dias (7.5), Guerreiro (8.5)
MID: B Fernandes (9), Hasler (9), Sele (8), B Silva (8)
FW: Ronaldo (9), Frick (7.5)
Vice-captain: Bruno Fernandes
Captain: Cristiano Ronaldo
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