Portugal V Wales: Can Ronaldo and co. stumble their way to final?
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Fernando Santos and his Portuguese side must have already been preparing to face a Belgian team gathering momentum before a ball was even kicked in their quarter final against Wales.
Instead it is a much different scenario as Portugal (5/4) aim to grab their first win in 90 minutes of Euro 2016 which will see them progress to the final.
They face a Wales (29/10) side in the form of their lives at what’s expected to be a packed out Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
One positive Portugal can take from their lack of wins in this tournament is their lack of defeats. In fact they go into tomorrow night’s fixture having not lost a competitive match since September 2014.
Wales, on the other hand, have lost a game as recently as earlier this summer. They were victims of perhaps the only positive an England fan can take from the competition.
Perhaps the obvious bet for this game given Portugal’s record of late is a draw, which is 21/10, while a draw with both teams to score is priced up at 7/2.
Boasting the ever-present threat of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Selecao are always going to create chances. He’s favourite to score first at 3/1 while his Real Madrid teammate Gareth Bale is 9/2 to grab the opening goal.
And although Wales are the second highest scoring team of the tournament, they do have a tendency to concede, managing just two clean sheets since the turn of the year.
In terms of player suspensions, Wales will be looking to Jonny Williams or Leicester City’s Andy King to fill the Aaron Ramsey shaped hole in midfield following his suspension, while James Collins is the likely candidate to replace Ben Davies at the back.
Portugal are without long-time Arsenal target William Carvalho after his second yellow card of the tournament, picked up against Poland.
The teams have only met on three previous occasions, most recently in June 2000, where Portugal came out on top in a comfortable 3-0 win.
A lot has changed since then, but for that same outcome we’re offering 20/1.
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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
