Euro 2020: Belgium versus Portugal preview

The marquee match-up of the round of 16 in Euro 2020 is Belgium against Portugal. The Belgians have been the proverbial dark horse in every international tournament they’ve been a part of for the last couple of years. Portugal, on the other hand, are the reigning champions.

Portugal are set to be Belgium’s first real test of the competition so far. The Portuguese side has already faced their share of tough opponents in the group stage and likely fancy themselves against the Belgians.

This will be the first time these two sides will meet in the Euros. However, Portugal are unbeaten in their last five matches against Belgium in all competitions.

Euro 2020: How Belgium and Portugal got here.

Belgium breezed through the group stage winning all three of their games against Russia, Denmark and Finland and finished first in Group B.

They scored seven goals and conceded only one in those three games. Romelu Lukaku accounted for three of those seven goals.

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As for Portugal, they finished third in Group F, behind Germany on goal differential. They were in the so called “Group of Death” and have already faced the likes of France and Germany. They drew against France and lost against Germany. Their only victory was a 3-0 win against Hungary.

This is not new territory for Portugal as they also finished third in their group back in Euro 2016 and won it all.

Both these sides boast a tremendous amount of talent both in attack and midfield. Aside from Lukaku, Belgium also have the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Eden and Thorgan Hazard and Yannick Carrasco, to name a few.

Portugal can counter with Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Renato Sanches, Bernardo Silva and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo.

They also count on two solid goalkeepers in Thibaut Courtois and Rui Patricio. It’s when it comes to defense where questions can be asked.

Jason Denayer, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld make up the Belgium back line with the latter two up there in age. Thomas Vermaelen is also still involved in their set up. The plan for Roberto Martinez seems to be to use their attack and midfield to protect their defenders.

They’ve managed to do that so far but they haven’t exactly faced teams who can trouble them going forward.

That changes with Portugal.

Ronaldo, despite his age, is still very much a threat. His evolution into a poacher or striker in the box has been challenged somewhat in the Euros. Against Germany, Portugal’s first goal came off a killer counter where Ronaldo headed the ball clear off a corner and sprinted to the other side of the pitch where he eventually scored.

He is still a player opponents fear and have to make sure to mark.

But one could argue that Portugal’s achilles heel is also their defense. Nelson Semedo was targeted early and often against Germany with Robin Gosens having a field day. It wasn’t just Semedo. Raphael Guerreiro didn’t cover himself in glory in that game either. Manager Fernando Santos fixed that somewhat in their game against France.

The game may end up be decided by which defense is set up to make the least mistakes. It will be interesting to see how Belgium reacts against a Portugal side who are a real threat going forward, with a player like Ronaldo who only needs half a chance to score.

This is also likely the last dance for Belgium’s golden generation. The same could be said for Ronaldo. The winner of this match will go on through to the quarterfinals and face Italy who needed extra time to get past Austria.