Portugal vs Austria – Preview

Portugal face Austria in the final game of second round of fixtures at the Parc des Prinecs in Paris , a game which is must win for both sides after disappointing results in the first game.

Fernando Santos’s men astonishingly drew against minnows Iceland , a game which was marked by Cristiano Ronaldo’s post match comments about his opponents. In reality , Portugal were poor in the final third and despite dominating the game failed to finish off Iceland and a draw was no more than they deserved.

Austria come into the fixture having lost their opening game against arch rivals Austria, they were outplayed by their neighbors and failed to create significant openings in the game.  Christian Fuchs side now face an uphill task against an agitated Portugal who will step out to prove their superiority.

Austria will need their star striker Marko Arnautovic to be on song for this game if they want to come out with something , other than that Christian Fuchs and Sebastian Prodl combined are the most experienced in this Austrian team and need to be on top of their game as they will come against Cristiano Ronaldo in attack.

Portugal have the right mix of youth and experience in their squad and on paper should easily beat Austria , but that was also the case against Iceland , where they failed. Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani will always be a threat going forward ,while Joao Moutinho will control from the midfield and experienced defender Ricardo Carvalho may also play a part.  If Cristiano Ronaldo scores today, he will become the first person to score in 4 separate European Championships a record he will love to have against his name.

Both teams need the 3 points desperately in order to advance to the next round and surprisingly , Austria lead the head to head , winning 3 and drawing 5 of the last 10 games , losing 2.