PREVIEW
The forward lines of France and Portugal need to fire up again for their quarterfinal meeting at the European Championship on Friday, where every little advantage will likely be crucial in a tight contest.
The teams clash at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg in a third meeting in as many Euro tournaments, this time chasing a semifinal slot against either Germany or Spain in Munich next week.
France has not scored in open play in its last five internationals while Portugal has failed to find the net in its past two outings at Euro 2024, needing the tear-filled trauma of a penalty shootout to win a last eight place.
There is no doubting the quality on both sides, with Kylian Mbappe captaining the French and Cristiano Ronaldo bringing record-breaking achievement to Portugal.
Ronaldo and 41-year-old centre back Pepe remain from the Portugal side which upset France in Paris in the Euro 2016 final, while the French had Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud in their lineup and Kingsley Coman and N’Golo Kante on the bench.
The two countries also met in the group phase at Euro 2020, drawing 2-2 in Budapest in a match in which three of the four goals came from the penalty spot.
The margins will likely be fine again and the outcome possibly determined by a moment of genius. For that, Portugal are likely to keep Ronaldo in place while French eyes will be firmly fixed on Mbappe finally delivering.
Road to the quarterfinal
Portugal’s road to quarterfinal
Group stage
Portugal 2-1 Czechia
Turkey 0-3 Portugal
Georgia 2-0 Portugal
Round of 16
Portugal 0-0 Slovenia (won 3-0 on penalties)
France’s road to quarterfinal
Group stage
Austria 0-1 France
Netherlands 0-0 France
France 1-1 Poland
Round of 16
France 1-0 Belgium
Key Euro 2024 stats and numbers ahead of Portugal vs France
Euro 2024 Scoring:
Germany has scored five goals, while France has only scored three times which is the lwoest among the top-eight teams.
France is also yet to score a goal from open-play in Euro 2024. It has received two own goals and the one Kylian Mbappe goal came from the spot against Poland.
Team stats:
Possession: Portugal has averaged the highest possession in Euro 2024 with 65.3 per-cent while France is seventh with 53.8 per-cent.
Attempts: Portugal is second in terms of attempts on goal with 74 (21 on target) to its name while France is fourth with 69 (16 on target).
Goals conceded: France has only conceded once this tournament whereas Portugal has conceded thrice.
Individual Stats:
Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Francisco Conceicao have scored a goal each for Portugal. Rest two have come from an own goal
Mbappe is the only French player to score a goal so far in Euro 2024.
Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to score a goal in Euro 2024. He got a golden opportunity in the round of 16 clash against Slovenia but his penalty was saved by Jan Oblak. Ronalda has had an xG 2.75 which is the second highest in the tournament but his finishing has been extremely disappointing and hence he remains goalless.