EURO 2020 will see its first big side knocked out of the competition tonight as Belgium take on Portugal in a huge last-16 clash in Seville.
Belgium's Romelu Lukaku and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo have been in red-hot form all tournament, but one of them will leave the competition when the sides face off this evening.
- Start time: 8pm GMT
- TV/Live stream: ITV 1/ITV Hub
- Belgium XI: 1 Courtois; 2 Alderweireld, 5 Vertonghen, 3 Vermaelen; 15 Meunier, 8 Tielemans, 6 Witsel, 16 T.Hazard; 7 De Bruyne, 9 Lukaku, 10 E.Hazard
- Portugal XI: Rui Patricio, 20 Dalot, 3 Pepe, 4 Ruben Dias, 5 Guerreriro, 26 Palhinha, 8 Moutinho, 16 Sanches, 10 Silva, 7 Ronaldo, 21 Jota
Follow ALL the action with our live blog below…
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BELGIUM 0-0 PORTUGAL
2. This game is just oozing with quality in both ranks.
But the Portuguese are currently the ones just passing it around the back and feeling out their oppenents.
BELGIUM 0-0 PORTUGAL
1. I thought we was never going to get to this point but I’m glad it’s arrived!
This game is set up to be one of the top clashes of the round so let’s hope they put on a show for us today.
PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
FELIX BRYCH GET’S THE BATTLE UNDER-WAY!
LET THE CHOIR COMMENCE
It's that time of the evening where the footballers switch occupations to singers and bellow their national anthems out on the field.
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EURO FACTS
Belgium’s only previous fixture in Seville was at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan where they played out a 1-1 draw against 3x Euro winners Spain.
Whereas the Portuguese have played twice in Seville against the same opponents as the Red Devils however Portugal lost both games to Spain, firstly at the Campo de la Reina Victoria in 1923 (0-3) and then at the Estadio de la Exposicion in 1929 (0-5).
So it’s set up nicely for one of these two teams to finally record their first victory on Spanish surface but who will it be?
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
Less than ten minutes to go until kick-off people!
Who you got?
MOTIVATIONAL MARTINEZ
The Belgian boss spoke confidently about his side’s morale going into this huge last 16 despite respecting that the opponents will be tricky.
PORTUGAL RECENT RESULTS
Fernando Santos’ side haven’t had a perfect run in their last six matches but unlike Belgium, three of those games came against Spain, Germany and France.
And despite being embarrassed 4-2 in Munich last weekend, Portugal not only held Spain to a 0-0 stalemate in a friendly but more importantly escaped from their final group game against Les Blues with 2-2 draw which ultimately put them in the position they are in now.
The other three games in that run were routine victories.
It included a World Cup Qualifiers win over Luxembourg, handing Israel a 4-0 beat down in a friendly and securing a perfect start to their Euros by beating Russia 3-0 on the opening day.
BELGIUM CURRENT FORM
The Red Devil’s most recent victory over Finland stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions to 12.
As a matter of fact, Belgium have only lost once in 26 matches winning 22 of them which statistically sounds even more impressive.
However, Belgium had only came up against one big footballing nation in that run which is where they suffered that one defeat against England.
Roberto Martinez’ men did beat the 1966 World Cup Winners prior to that but if the Belgians are to start stamping their authority across the globe, they need to beat more big nations and win trophies too.
MOODY MARCO
OK I may have told a little lie. Not everybody is a fan of the Portuguese all-time top goal scorer.
Hungary head coach Marco Rossi actually referred to Cristiano Ronaldo as ‘annoying’ because of his celebrations after scoring against the Hungarians.
NU-KNOWS
Everyone just seems to love Cristiano Ronaldo these days.
Here is what former Portuguese team-mate Nuno Gomes had to say about Os Navegedores icon.
GAZZA’S BANTER
When Cristiano Ronaldo converted his penalty against France to grab his 109th international goal on match-day 3 in the group stages, Gary Lineker had some good banter for his colleagues in the studio.
The OBE just couldn’t resist.
RONALGOAAAAAAAAL
Nothing special to see here.
Just the Portuguese goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo doing what he does best.
RUTHLESS RONALDO
The man, the myth, the legend. I honestly do not think there are enough adjectives to describe how good Cristiano Ronaldo is.
Portuguese’ all-time top goal scorer helped himself to another brace against France which rocketed his goal tally for Os Navegadores to 109, equalling Iran hero Ali Daei’s international record for men’s football set between 1993 and 2006.
Both strikes were admittedly from the penalty spot but that won’t matter to Ronaldo because at the end of the day, they all count.
Especially if it contributes to him securing the golden boot come the end of the tournament and with him already sitting on top of the leaderboards with 5 goals, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that materialise.
Despite Juventus having a poor season by all accounts, the Portuguese skipper still managed to bag the most goals in Serie A so it was still another personal trophy winning season for him.
The only record Ronaldo looks unlikely to break is the all-time top international record currently held by Christine Sinclair and in order for him to do that, he needs to add another 77 to his tally.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the Portuguese marksman’s stats from the 2020/21 season.
NOT TOO KEANE
Bruno Fernandes' poor form this tournament has resulted the Manchester United midfielder going another game without starting and Roy Keane wasn't surprised with this decision.
MOUR TALK LESS ACTION
One player who hasn’t been at the races this summer is Bruno Fernandes according to The Sun columnist Jose Mourinho.
The special one even went as far as to say that Portugal have been playing with 10 men when Fernandes is on the pitch.
Ouch.
BROMANCE
One player who Kevin De Bruyne assists a lot during international duty is Belgian marksman Romelu Lukaku.
They are a proven deadly duo at major tournaments because De Bruyne has set up Lukaku in four consecutive competitions; 2014 World Cup, EURO 2016, 2018 World Cup and EURO 2020.
KING KEV
De Bruyne is arguably de best midfielder that this current generation of footballers has to offer.
The Manchester City magician currently holds the joint record for providing the most assists in a single Premier League season (20) with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.
As a matter of fact, De Bruyne has only failed to hit double figures in assists once in his five year spell with the Cityzens.
And not only does he do that for his club, but the Man City midfield maestro also does it for his country too.
In 82 caps for Belgium, De Bruyne has set up a team-mate a total of 40 times including that incredible assist for Eden Hazard’s baby brother Thorgan Hazard against the Danes on match-day 2 of the Euros.
Belgium’s talisman suffered an acute facial fracture of the nose and an orbital fracture to his left eye socket during Manchester City’s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea which put his chances of featuring at the Euros in serious jeopardy
But thankfully for Roberto Martinez, De Bruyne recovered from that horrific injury because his performance will be a main variable as to whether the #1 FIFA World Ranked country progresses to the last eight or not.
Before we see how the PFA’s Players’ Player of the Year does tonight, have a read up of his stats in Man City’s title winning season last campaign.
CHECKING IN
The city of Seville isn't big enough for the both of them.
Which nation will leave Spain with their tails between their legs?
PORTUGAL BENCH
12 Lopes (GK) 22 Rui Silva (GK) 2 Nelson Semedo, 6 Fonte, 9 Andre Silva, 11 Bruno Fernandes, 13 Danilo, 18 Ruben Neves, 19 Pedro Goncalves, 23 Joao Felix, 24 Sergio Oliveria, 25 Nuno Mendes
PORTUGAL XI
Fernando Santos has made two expected changes from the side who drew to the World Cup Winners on match-day 3.
Nelson Semedo was forced off with an injury and although the Wolves defender has made the bench, Santos does not feel as if he is 100% fit enough to start tonight so in comes Diogo Dalot.
Likewise with Danilo Pereira who is dropped to the bench for Sporting midfielder Joao Palhinha.
(4-3-3) 1 Rui Patricio; 20 Dalot, 4 Ruben Dias, 3 Pepe, 5 Guerreiro; 8 Joao Moutinho, 26 Joao Palhinha, 16 Renato Sanches; 10 Bernado Silva, 7 Ronaldo, 21 Diogo Jota
HAVE YOUR SAY
The tournament holders Portugal against the number one ranked side in the world Belgium…
BELGIUM BENCH
12 Minglote (GK) 13 Sels (GK) 4 Boyata, 11 Carrasco, 14 Mertens, 18 Denayer, 19 Dendoncker, 20 Benteke, 23 Batshuayi, 24 Trossard, 25 Doku, 26 Praet
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