Portugal vs France Prediction: A difficult and low scoring game anticipated

At Hamburg's Volksparkstadion, Portugal and France will play in Friday's UEFA European Championship quarterfinals. Portugal defeated Slovenia on penalties in the round of 16 on July 1 to win their final Euro 2024 encounter. In the extra time, neither team was able to score, leading to a decisive shootout. They have five wins, one tie, and three losses from their nine games this season.

France defeated Belgium 1-0 in their round of 16 matchup for Euro 2024 on July 1. They have gone seven games without losing. They have four wins, three draws, and one loss in 2024. In June 2021, at Puskás Aréna, the teams played a 2-2 draw in a 2021 Euro 2021 encounter. This was their previous meeting. The Portuguese team was driven by goals by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 30th and 60th minutes. The French team was led by goals by Karim Benzema in the 47th and 47th minutes.

Portugal has lost its last three games against France, who have recently prevailed over them. In their matchup with the other team, Portugal is attempting to win for the first time since July 2016. Throughout their winning streak, the French team had outscored the Portuguese team 3-2. In Portugal's Euro 2024 campaign, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, and Francisco Conceição have all had memorable moments. With a single goal, they share the team's top scorer position. Kylian Mbappé, who has scored once in the current Euro 2024 campaign, has been France's main attacking danger. Portugal has struggled offensively lately in the Euro 2024; in the last 215 minutes of play, they have not scored a goal. Since Fernandes' goal in their victory over Turkey during the group stage, they have not shown on the scoreboard.

There hasn't been a stretch of five internationals for France between March and September 2013 where players failed to score in as many games from open play. But in their hour of need, their defense did not waver. With an expected goals against (xGA) total of just 2.63 going into Euro 2024, France has the lowest of all quarterfinal teams and the second lowest overall behind Serbia (2.57), who have already been eliminated.

Despite having the most clean sheets of any team in the tournament—three out of four—France is not receiving any support from the players in front of them. Against Belgium, Deschamps attempted to rekindle Les Bleus' attacking fire with a three-man strike force, but the opportunities were few.

Randal Kolo Muani was added late, but the starting lineup of Mbappé, Marcus Thuram, and Antoine Griezmann was still favored. This was another mostly ineffective performance. Just two of France's 19 efforts on goal against the Red Devils were on target, and in the end, they prevailed thanks to a stroke of luck. But Deschamps has the chance to rotate his front lineup.

Conversely, Martínez, the manager of Portugal, will have to make his hardest decision yet over Ronaldo. Despite having a terrible night against Slovenia, the 39-year-old took responsibility for the Seleção's opening penalty kick in the penalty shootout and made careful not to make the same error twice.

Ronaldo recorded the most shots (eight), shots on target (four), and touches inside the opposition's box (seven) of any player during the Frankfurt match. But it lacks a clinical edge. In fact, the captain of Portugal has taken the most shots at Euro 2024—20—but he hasn't yet found the back of the net.

Even while it could be challenging to bench the all-time top goalscorer in international football, Martínez might use this as a chance to make changes to his front line. After recording an xG total of 1.97 against Slovenia, there would undoubtedly be serious repercussions if those opportunities are missed against stronger opposition.

Portugal and France will play each other in their fifth European Championship match; the Seleção has won the previous two. However, if Martínez's team wins here, they will also like their prospects of winning a second European Championship.

The four teams that have defeated France in a major tournament's quarterfinals in the past—Italy in 1938, Greece in 2004, Spain in 2012, and Germany in 2014—have all gone on to win the trophy.

Portugal is already in the quarterfinals of Euro 2024, however, they have lost their last two games at the tournament without scoring. Due to two own goals and a penalty, France has only scored three goals during the competition and has not scored a goal through open play.

We anticipate a low scoring goals.