The Clash of Giants: Belgium Vs Portugal

Euro 2021 Jun 26, 2021 0 1552 Add to Reading List

A Game to watch 2021: Belgium vs Portugal

TELL YOUR WIFE or wives, kids, boyfriend or girlfriend, your fling, that night is not just another random night of 2021, it is Men Sports night. Breath-taking match of Christiano Ronaldo Portugal Captain between Eden Hazard Belgium Captain which no history of these 2 matchups faced each other. Eden Hazard is actually a replacement for Christiano Ronaldo, your thoughts toward Eden Hazard achievement in Real Madrid? I promise you more on that later.

Group stage UEFA EURO 2020/2021, Portugal indeed was not having the best moment due to having to play with Giants like France and Germany. Portugal won a match between Hungary, Lost 2-4 to Germans and 2 penalty fouls but end up draw with France. On the other hand, Belgium having a average score of 2 goal between Belgium, Finland and Denmark. So, this EURO Championship somehow Belgium is lucky on looting group stage team BUT not so much on draw in the round 16 with Portugal. And then, the winner of this matchup will face against dangerous Italy, in the quarter finals

Belgium Point of View

Belgium starting line up mostly be 3-4-2-1. Martinez, Belgium Coach loves to counter-attacking opponents, having Witsel and Tielemans to grab hold middle and then pass with a striker like Lukaku and players like De Bruyne on the counter. Portugal tends to play offensively at front and do not press offensive middle of 2^nd half match. The disadvantage of Belgium is that prone to losing possession for example the matchup with Spain. So, Belgium have to look out hard on the midfielders and the defenders of Portugal. When Belgium go defensive mode, most likely will play 3-1-5-1.

Portugal Point of View

Their build up phase most likely to be 4-1-4-1, fun fact about Portugal is that their possession is one of the lowest against other top European nations because they usually go from back to front as quickly as possible for the counter attacks. One of the weakness of Portugal is lack of progression in their midfield passing with Semedo, Guerreiro, Silva and Dias they are still using the older version of possession of the ball, if so, Portugal most likely to lose the ball quicker compared to Belgium Midfielders like De Bruyne, Tielemans and Witsel. This is the reason Sanches come to play in Portugal where is procession is really good with all out support back to the striker of the team. When Portugal go defensive, it will be 4-2-3-1 for example collapse against Germans.

Highlights Battle

Lukaku v Dias

In the competitive tournament, Dias is not doing so well whereas Lukaku sharpened skills. More likely, Lukaku has the edge of the big Belgian.

Danilo v De Bruyne

Danilo’s display against Germany, have to be sharpened enough and still far from De Bruyne. De Bruyne is doing well and consistence in most of his matchups.