Football Results

This is the first big encounter at the World Cup in Russia, because the second match of the first round of group B brings us the current European champion Portugal and the former world and European champion, Spain. And since they are in the group with Morocco and Iran, it is quite clear that these two teams from Pyrenees are also big favourites for placement in the next round, which again means that their mutual duel should decide who will take first place on the table. Otherwise, their last mutual duel took place six years ago in the semi-finals of the European championship in Poland and Ukraine, and since there were no goals after 120 minutes of the game, Spain has won placement in the finals, and later became the European champion.

Portugal

But two years ago, the throne was taken by Portugal, which in EURO in France celebrated in the big finals with 1-0 over the host of European championship, which is why the Portuguese team came to their first title at some big competition. There is now much greater responsibility for this World Cup in Russia, which they otherwise won only after the last qualifying round on their field when they celebrated over Switzerland, which again caused them the only defeat at the start of qualifiers. But after that, the current European champions have even made nine wins, which means they fully deserved to come to the first place in the group but also to the status of the holder in the lottery for this final tournament in Russia.

Unfortunately, the other hat has brought them the most difficult possible opponent, Spain, so they will have to struggle a lot to win their placement in the finals as the first in the group. Last year, the Portuguese made their debut in Russia when they won the third place in the Confederations Cup, while they played very changeable in the last friendly matches, so for example they lost three consecutive friendly matches from Netherlands with 3-0 and played 2-2 against Tunisia, while they as guests against Belgium recorded 0-0 and in their last check at home they celebrated with 3-0 over Algiers. Because of this great match with Algeria, we now expect coach Santos to send the same team on the field against the Spaniards.

Probable lineups Portugal: Rui Patricio – Soares, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro – B.Silva, Moutinho, W.Carvalho, B.Fernandes – Ronaldo, Guedes

Spain

We have already said for the team of Spain that they were two years ago in France left without the title of the European champions, when they were defeated by Portugal, while they were four years ago in Brazil taken off from the world throne by the Germans. Of course, after these two major failures, now in Russia they expect to return to the top, especially since they ended their qualifiers for this World Cup almost without mistake, because they have made even nine wins and one draw, while they are undefeated in the last 20 games. Otherwise, that great series began just after s debacle in the previous EURO, but also from the arrival of a new coach Lopetegui, who has apparently managed to awaken this victorious mentality again in the Spaniards.

However, just two days before the match with Portugal, the leaders of the Spanish Alliance surprisingly ended their cooperation with Lopetegui because of their lack of knowledge of his decision to take over the European club champion, Real Madrid, in the following season. Of course, this upbeat decision about Lopetegui’s dismissal, who should be temporarily replaced by the sport director, Fernando Hierro, might have leave a big mark on their team at this World Cup, where they were certainly one of the major favourites. However, they announce that they will give their best to continue playing at the same pace, so they against Portugal certainly expect a favourable outcome, despite the fact that the injured defender Carvajal should miss this match due to injury.

Probable lineups Spain: de Gea – Fernandez, Pique, Ramos, Alba – Koke, Busquets, Iniesta – Silva, Isco – D.Costa

Verdict:

Given that this first-round match will probably decide on the winner of the group B, because the teams of Morocco and Iran are the other two teams in that group, then it is quite realistic to expect that both coaches will set a more defensive tactic, with the aim to remain undefeated, which means that there should not be a lot of goals in this big Pyrenean derby.

Pick: under 2.5 goals 1.64 - 64/100 @1XBet