Poland vs Portugal. European Championships Quarter-Final.
Stade VelodromeAttendance62,940.
Friday 1 July 2016 06:44, UK
Portugal are looking to reach the last four of the European Championship for the fourth time in five tournaments as they face Poland in the first quarter-final in Marseille on Thursday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal reached the quarter-final after a gruelling last-16 clash with Croatia, where a 117th-minute Ricardo Quaresma goal saw them through.
The Stade Velodrome crowd will see Real Madrid forward Ronaldo up against Poland and Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, with the pair hitting a combined 93 goals in the 2015/16 season for their clubs.
Poland, who have reached the last eight of a major tournament for the first time since the World Cup in 1982, beat Switzerland on penalties in the last 16.
The winners will face a semi-final clash against either Wales or Belgium, who clash in Lille on Friday night.
Team news
Lukasz Fabianski is set to continue in between the sticks for Poland as Wojciech Szczesny still struggles with a thigh injury.
Portugal have been boosted by the return of Andre Gomes and Raphael Guerreiro to training ahead. The two players joined the main group in the morning session on Wednesday after sitting out two days of practice.
Defender Guerreiro and midfielder Gomes started Portugal's 1-0 extra-time triumph over Croatia in the last 16 but sustained minor muscular problems.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos is expected to have all his players available to face Poland on Thursday.
Opta stats
This will be Poland and Portugal's third encounter at a major tournament, their first in the European Championships.
They have so far won one each: 1-0 to Poland at the 1986 World Cup and 4-0 to Portugal at the 2002 World Cup.
Poland are unbeaten in their last three head-to-heads with Portugal (W1 D2).
Poland have made it to the quarter-finals of the European Championship for the first time in their history. The only previous time they reached the semis of a major tournament was in the 1982 World Cup.
Poland have never scored more than one goal in a single game at the European Championship (10 games). Actually, none of their 10 games in the competition has produced more than two goals (scored + conceded).
Poland are in fact the lowest scoring side among those to have made it to the quarter-finals (3 goals in 4 games).
Poland have yet to trail at any point in a game at this year's European Championships. They've only conceded one goal so far in four games.
Portugal have played the most games in the history of the European Championships without ever winning the tournament: 32 games, 0 trophy.
Merson's predictions
I can't believe Poland are as much as 3/1 to win this football match because this is a heads or tails game. Portugal have improved but at the same time Poland have made it this far and Lewandowski hasn't turned up yet.
I like Portugal defensively, even though lots of people criticise that part of the team. They let in three goals against Hungary, but if you analyse them, two were deflected free-kicks and the other was a worldie. All three were from outside the penalty area and it's hard to knock defenders when that happens.
Still, I fancy Lewandowski to come to the party and Poland win narrowly.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (14/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
Portugal are Sky Bet's 6/5 favourites for the victory with Poland up against odds of 14/5 while the draw and extra-time is priced at 2/1. The Portuguese have come in to 13/2 fifth favourites after defying the odds to beat Croatia, while their next opponents follow at 18/1 in the outright betting.
Ronaldo, who is the 6/1 joint second favourite for the Golden Boot, heads the first goalscorer betting at 11/4, followed by Lewandowski at 5/1. The Soccer Saturday pundits and Jamie Redknapp have provided their predictions, including Phil Thompson's 50/1 fancy for Lewandowski to score first in a 2-1 victory.
