Lisbon, September 26 / WAM / The curtain will come down tomorrow on the activities of the first round (group stage) in the third edition of the European Football Championship.
The Portuguese city of Braga is witnessing a new version of the derby of the Iberian Peninsula, where the Portuguese and Spanish teams meet in a strong struggle for the last seat in the semi-finals of this edition of the tournament.
Both teams are looking to snatch the qualification card from Group B to the semi-finals a few weeks before the 2022 World Cup.
The Portuguese team grabbed the top spot in the group with a 4-0 victory over its Czech host in the fifth round of the group matches yesterday, Saturday, while the Spanish team lost 1-2 to its Swiss guest in the same group, to fall to second place in the group with 8 points, only two points behind its Spanish counterpart.
Therefore, the Portuguese national team has a better chance than its Spanish counterpart in tomorrow’s match; Where he plays the match at his home in the “Municipal” stadium in Braga, and a draw is enough for him to decide the last qualification card from the group stage to the semi-finals.
On the other hand, the Spanish team, led by coach Luis Enrique, will have no choice but to win tomorrow if he wants to complete his career in the tournament, which reached the final in its last edition.
And if the team loses or draws in tomorrow’s match at the Portuguese national team’s stadium, the semi-finals of this version will be devoid of both sides of the final match of the last version, after the defending French team failed to cross to the semi-finals of the current version.
The Spanish team is clearly superior in the history of confrontations with its Portuguese counterpart, as the two teams meet tomorrow for the 40th time in their history, knowing that the Spanish team won 17 of the 39 previous matches between them in various official and friendly confrontations, while the Portuguese team achieved only 6 victories and the two teams tied 16 times.
The previous confrontations between the two teams witnessed 80 goals for the Spanish team and 47 goals for the Portuguese team.
But the Portuguese national team, winner of the first edition of the tournament, appeared in the current edition of the Nations League in a distinctive way that gives it confidence in the possibility of passing the Spanish obstacle tomorrow and reaching the semi-finals.
And after the team started its participation in this edition with a 1-1 draw at the stadium of its Spanish counterpart, the next 4 matches witnessed 3 victories for the team, during which the Portuguese team did not concede any goal, while the team lost against its Swiss host with a clean goal, to be the second goal only in the net of the Portuguese team in this group until right Now.
With this, the Portuguese national team, led by coach Fernando Santos, tops the list of the best defensive teams in the first division of the current edition of the tournament.
The team is looking to maintain this good defensive record in the face of the Spanish attack tomorrow, because not shaking the net means the Portuguese team qualified for the semi-finals.
On the other hand, the Spanish team is looking forward to regaining balance in tomorrow’s match after the team, admitted by coach Enrique, committed more mistakes during the last match against the Swiss team than the team committed in any other match since taking over the team.