The UEFA Nations League Finals kick off on Wednesday with the first semi-final as host nation Portugal take on Switzerland at Estadio do Dragao in Porto. The two sides have also met during the qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup, Switzerland won 2-0 in Basel and then Portugal got revenge with a 2-0 victory in Lisbon. Both sides eventually made it to the final tournament in Russia and both were eliminated in the round of 16. Overall, Switzerland have won 10 of the 22 direct meetings, while Portugal have collected just 7 wins.
Portugal have a great opportunity to add a second trophy to their record, they play the UEFA Nations League finals on home soil and will also benefit from their home fans' support. Their run in the UEFA Nations League group stage has been almost perfect, two wins and two draws allowed them to finish at the top of the group table, ahead of Italy and Poland. However, Portugal have drawn their last four matches in all competitions and have not tasted victory since a 3-1 friendly success in Scotland in October. Danilo Pereira is suspended for Portugal, but Cristiano Ronaldo is ready to play after having missed all the matches in the Nations League group stage.
Switzerland are a somewhat surprising presence in the UEFA Nations League finals, considering that they played in the same group with mighty Belgium. The Swiss did lose 2-1 in Belgium but then secured a spectacular 5-2 victory over Lukaku and company in the last match of the group stage and finished at the top of the table. In March, Switzerland started their qualification campaign for Euro 2020 with a 2-0 victory in Georgia, followed by a spectacular 3-3 home draw against Denmark. Breel Embolo has withdrawn from the squad due to an injury, but Liverpool's Xherdan Shaqiri should be able to play.
Probable line-ups:
Portugal: Patricio - Cancelo, Dias, Pepe, Rui - B. Silva, Pizzi, Carvalho, Rafa - Ronaldo, Felix
Switzerland: Sommer - Mbabu, Schar, Elvedi, Rodriguez - Zakaria, Xhaka - Fernandes, Shaqiri, Zuber - Seferovic
My prediction:
Portugal should be able to win this match, Switzerland's defence has not been exactly tight lately and Cristiano Ronaldo should be able to exploit that. I think Portugal will win this match 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Portugal win - 1.61
Draw - 3.60
Switzerland win - 5.75
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