Euro 2016 Championships
Date: Wednesday, 6 July 2016
Time: 20:00 BST
Venue: Lyon
Live Stream: Watch Portugal vs Wales online
Portugal have ridden their luck in Euro 2016 to reach this far. They remain the only team that are yet to win a single game inside 90 minutes, and have only won just once in their five games, and that through a sort of fortunate goal against Croatia in the dying minutes of extra time.
Fernando Santos’ men required penalties to beat Poland in the quarter-finals. Portugal’s star player Cristiano Ronaldo hasn’t found his best form yet and apart from his one brilliant goal against Hungary hasn’t done much throughout the tournament, so he will be motivated enough get one over on his Real Madrid teammate Gareth Bale.
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Wales, on the other hand, have exceeded all expectations so far. Not only they topped Group B but went on to beat Belgium, one of the favourites, in a convincing manner in the quarter-finals. The players are buzzing in confidence at the moment as they remain the only team left in the tournament who have scored at least once in all their matches.
While all the pre-match hype has been centred on the two great Real Madrid players – Ronaldo and Gareth Bale – the match certainly has more to offer in terms of tactical battles. Bale has been simply outstanding for Wales throughout the tournament but surprisingly it’s Ronaldo who holds a better stat than his club teammate.
Both the team are missing several key players for this tie. Sporting midfielder William Carvalho is suspended which means Danilo Pereira will presumably come for him. Real Madrid defender Pepe missed training on Monday with a slight thigh problem but he is expected to be fit to face Wales. Wales will be without Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies through suspension. Jonathan Williams and James Collins are set to deputise in their absence.
Possible Portugal starting XI: Patricio, Soares, Pepe, Fonte, Eliseu, Danilo, Silva, Sanches, Mario, Nani, Ronaldo
Possible Wales starting XI: Hennessey, Chester, Williams, Collins, Taylor, Allen, Williams, Ledley, Gunter, Bale, Robson-Kanu
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