France v Portugal Preview & Prediction 11/10/2020 – Score Draw the call

Categories: Football betting | Published by: Andy Nelson

10/10/2020

Updated: 17th October 2021

2020-21 UEFA Nations League, Group A3 preview: France v Portugal – Sunday, 11 October 2020 – Stade de France, Saint-Denis – 19.45 hrs BST

UEFA Nations League France v Portugal Preview

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France and Portugal will play out one of the most anticipated duels of the year in a Group A3 clash of the UEFA Nations League at the State de France on Sunday night.

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The French have been in good form, getting off to wins of 0-1 and 4-2 against Sweden and Croatia in the opening fixtures of the current edition of the Nations League.

Portugal's performance in the same period mirrors that of France beating Croatia 4-1 at home and 0-2 away in Sweden.

Les Blues' most recent triumph at the international level was a 7-1 thrashing of Ukraine in a home friendly on Thursday while Portugal battled it out 0-0 with Spain on the same day.

France have gone unbeaten in 9 games till now, of which 8 are wins and one a draw. The hosts' last defeat was away in Turkey back in June 2019.

Portugal have lost one of their last three internationals, going down 2-1 away at Ukraine. The French are yet to lose in their last 19 home games across all competitions which is what makes them favorites for October 11th's clash.

Les Blues manager Didier Deschamps has called up Paris Saint-Germain’s duo of Kylian Mbappe and Presnel Kimpembe for the upcoming fixtures against Portugal and Croatia.

Also called are a contingent of English Premier League players like goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Lucas Digne, Paul Pogba, N'golo Kante, Olivier Giroud and Anthony Martial.

Portugal boss Fernando Santos has called-up three uncapped players – Ruben Semedo, Daniel Podence and Rui Silva – while he will miss the services of Andre Gomes, Joao Mario and Goncalo Guedes owing to injuries.

The mainstay for the Portuguese will be their attacking icon, 35-year old Cristiano Ronaldo. With 165 international caps and 101 goals, he is still a threat to any defense in world football.

Pepe and Moutinho are the other centurions also to make it to the Portugal squad. Joao Felix will give company to Ronaldo upfront.

The 20-year old Atletico Madrid forward has impressed one and all with his finishing skills, scoring 2 goals and 2 assists along with creating 3.4 shots on target per game so far.

Man City midfielder Bernardo Silva despite being a bit off-color of late could still make the cut in the starting line-up. The strong back line of Pepe, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo and Raphael Guerreiro will have their job cut out against a formidable French attack.

For Les Blues, the brilliant Mbappe will be the obvious choice in the attack and is a candidate for the anytime scorer at Stade de France on Sunday.

Along with Mbappe, the presence of Antionne Griezmann, Martial and Ben Yedder upfront gives the Les Blues attack plenty of menace.

Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann will be another one to watch out for, having scored 8 goals and an assist from his last 12 outings along with a 87 per cent pass completion rate.

Anthony Martial has looked a bit jaded playing for Manchester United of late but along with Ben Yedder is expected to create a lot of chances.

The French defense looks a lot better on paper with Clement Lenglet, Lucas Hernandez and Dayot Upamecano at the back.

Lenglet especially is an excellent passer, a superb tackler and has the ability to control the pace of the game. He has a goal, 88.1 per cent pass completion along with 1.7 clears and 0.7 blocks per game from this last 8 outings.

France has a solid history against their forthcoming rivals.

Barring their surprise loss to the Portuguese in the 2016 Euro finals, the French have managed to beat Portugal in all 10 encounters prior to that.

Bookmakers online are thus tipping the hosts to win 2-1 and move to the top of the table of Group A3.