Portugal are looking to secure the first ever UEFA Nations League trophy in front of their own fans as they face the Netherlands in the final of the competition at Estadio do Dragao in Porto on Sunday evening. The two teams have met in a friendly match last year and the Dutch had a very good game, they won 3-0 in Geneva with goals from Memphis Depay, Ryan Babel and Virgil van Dijk. The last competitive match between the two nations was at the 2012 European Championship, and Portugal won that game 2-1 with a double from superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Portugal have a great chance to make history on Sunday evening and win the first edition of the UEFA Nations League. And with Cristiano Ronaldo in exceptional form, anything seems possible. In fact, the Juventus star forward decided the semi-final match against Switzerland all by himself, he netted a hat-trick and Portugal won 3-1. That result came after four consecutive draws in all competitions for Portugal. Young striker Joao Felix made his international debut in that game but he failed to impress, so he might lose his place in the starting eleven for the final. Pepe suffered an injury was forced off during the semi-final, so he might miss out.
The Netherlands have not won a trophy since the 1988 European Championship and they even struggled to qualify for final tournaments lately, so their presence in the UEFA Nations League final could be regarded as a triumph in itself. However, head coach Ronald Koeman has very high ambitions for his team and winning the Nations League could be the start of a new "Golden Era" for Dutch football. They had a tough game against England in the semi-finals, it was 1-1 after 90 minutes, but in extra time an own-goal from Kyle Walker put the Dutch ahead before Quincy Promes sealead things off with his goal.
Probable line-ups:
Portugal: Patricio - Semedo, Fonte, Dias, Guerreiro - Moutinho, Neves, Carvalho - B. Silva - Guedes, Ronaldo
Netherlands: Cillessen - Dumfries, Van Dijk, De Ligt, Blind - Wijnaldum, De Jong, De Roon - Bergwijn, Depay, Babel
My prediction:
These two sides will fight very hard for this trophy and I think the battle will go into extra-time and maybe even penalties, I'd bet on a 1-1 draw at the end of the regular 90 minutes.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Portugal win - 2.37
Draw - 3.25
Netherlands win - 3.00
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