Portugal aims to insert early dominance in their group with back-to-back wins in the Nations League as they welcome Scotland at Lisbon.
POR vs SCO Match Details
Date: Sunday, 8 September 2024 / Monday, 9 September 2024
Time: 21:00 (CET), 00:30 (IST)
Venue: Estadio da Luz, Lisbon
POR vs SCO Match Preview
Cristiano Ronaldo reached another landmark with his 900th career goal to help Portugal clinch a 2-1 win in their Nations League opener against Croatia. Diogo Dalot's opened the scoring in the seventh minute from Bruno Fernandes that opened the Portuguese football superstar doubled the lead but the right-back also inadvertently turned into his own net to reduce the deficit. However, Croatia failed to capitalise letting Selecao return to winning ways after suffering elimination from the quarterfinal stage of the Euro 2024. It was the first win for Roberto Martinez’s side since the 3-0 thrashing of Turkey in the second group stage game of the summer tournament so they will be happy by restoring some momentum. Portugal failed to qualify for the Nations League finals last time, finishing second behind eventual winners Spain. The top two teams from each group in League A will advance to the knockout round from this edition due to changes in the competition format but that will not change Selecao’s aim to be group winners.
Portugal wishes to pick up three points in consecutive games at Lisbon for a solid start and they might fulfil their demand with a struggling Scotland visiting them. Steve Clark held on to his job despite a disastrous Euro 2024 campaign in which the Tartan Army managed only a point in their group stage elimination. Carrying on the poor form, the side suffered a stoppage-time 3-2 loss to Poland in their 2024-25 Nations League opener at Hampden Park leaving them with just one win in a year. The tough period came after Scotland enjoyed considerable success in the Euro qualifiers and also gained promotion to League A. The visitors hope to recover from the setbacks but avoiding finishing behind the top two in a group containing Croatia, Poland and Portugal requires a monumental task. For a side that has conceded 17 goals this year avoiding defeat in Lisbon will be tough as finishing in third or fourth place will almost guarantee relegation.
POR vs SCO Recent Form (all competitions)
POR: WLDDLW
SCO: LLDLD
POR vs SCO Recent Form (Nations League)
POR: WLWLW
SCO: LDWWW
POR vs SCO Predicted Lineups
Portugal
Costa; Dalot, Dias, A. Silva, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha; B. Silva, Fernandes, Leao; Ronaldo
Scotland
Gunn; Ralston, Hanley, McKenna, Robertson; McClean, Gilmour; McGinn, McTominay, Christie; Dykes
POR vs SCO head-to-head
Played - 15
POR won - 8
Drawn - 3
SCO won - 4
POR vs SCO Dream11 Match Prediction
Portugal should be favourites in this battle with their plethora of attacking options upfront against a leaky Scotland defence. We predict a 2-0 win for the Selecao.
POR vs SCO Dream11 Top picks
Captain Pick: Cristiano Ronaldo
Vice-captain Pick: Bruno Fernandes
POR vs SCO Dream11 Team Suggestion
GK: Costa (Cr - 7.5)
DEF: Dalot (Cr - 8.5), Ralston (Cr - 7), Mendes (Cr - 8)
MID: B Silva (Cr - 8.5), Fernandes (Cr - 9), Mctominay (Cr - 8.5), Robertson (Cr - 9)
FW: Christie (Cr -8.5), Ronaldo (Cr - 9), Leao (Cr - 7.5)
Vice-captain: Bruno Fernandes
Captain: Cristiano Ronaldo
