EURO 2024 Team Guide - Group F - Portugal
One of the favourites heading into the competition, the Portuguese look in great form having scored 36 and conceded just 2 in qualifying. Eduardo Tansley talks us through their chances.
Country:
Portugal
FIFA World Ranking:
6
Qualification Record:
1st Place
W10
Goals For – 36
Goals Against – 2
Group:
Group F
Highest Ever Euros Finish:
Champions (2016)
Previous Euros Appearances:
9
Top International Goal Scorer (in Squad):
Cristiano Ronaldo (128)
Squad:
Preliminary Squad:
Goalkeepers: Rui Patricio (Roma), Jose Sa (Wolves), Diogo Costa (Porto)
Defenders: Nelson Semedo (Wolves), Antonio Silva (Benfica), Danilo Pereira (PSG), Joao Cancelo (Barcelona), Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Pepe (Porto), Goncalo Inacio (Sporting Lisbon), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Nuno Mendes (PSG)
Midfielders: Joao Palhinha (Fulham), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Otavio (Al Nassr), Ruben Neves (Al Hilal), Vitinha (PSG), Joao Neves (Benfica), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Forwards: Goncalo Ramos (PSG), Joao Felix (Barcelona), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Francisco Conceicao (Porto), Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Pedro Neto (Wolves)
The Gaffer:
Roberto Martinez (Appointed: January 2023)
Gaffer Bio:
Martinez first played professionally at Zaragoza [B], making one La Liga appearance for the first team. Following three years in Aragon, Martinez returned to his boyhood club and birth town of Balaguer. His old man had finished his playing days at the Catalonian outfit and later managed there.
A left field move from the Spanish fourth tier to the English third (and then bottom) tier followed in 1995, to Wigan Athletic. In 1995-96 he was the club’s top goal scorer and in 1996-97, helped the club to the Division Three title. Add a Football League trophy in 1999 and 187 appearances overall, Martinez left the Latics as a cult hero.
Inconsequential seasons at Motherwell and Walsall passed before the Spaniard found a new home in Swansea, making over 100 appearances and again assisting in promotion, to League One in 2004-05.
After being let go by Swans manager Kenny Jackett, Martinez played out a season at Chester before being recruited to replace Jackett as the Welsh club’s gaffer - hanging up his boots at age 33 in the process.
In his first full season at the helm, the club became League One champions, promoted to the second-tier where they hadn’t played in 24 years.
Finishing just outside the Championship playoffs the following season, Wigan came calling breaking the hearts of the Swansea faithful.
Back at Wigan, Martinez made a memorable team towards the backend of the ‘Prime Barclays’ Premier League era. Think Hugo Rodallega and Charles N’Zogbia as well as Arouna Kone and James McArthur, who both later followed Martinez to Everton.
Over five seasons, he became something of an escape artist with Wigan but ultimately faced the drop in 2012-13, but at least led the club to their first and only FA Cup to ease the pain.
Hopping ship to Everton for 2013-14, the tactician achieved a fifth-place finish and the Toffee’s highest-ever Premier League points total, behind 15 Romelu Lukaku league goals. Developing a good relationship with the bagsman and fellow Belgian Kevin Mirallas perhaps manifested what was to come.
Because after three 11th placed league finishes in a row, Martinez received his first managerial sacking by Everton only to find himself in charge of the Belgian golden generation months later.
Under Martinez, at the 2018 World Cup Belgium beat Brazil in the quarter-finals on the way to a third place finish – securing their best finish of all time.
Martinez has the most wins of any Belgium manager in history, winning 70 percent of his games, and led his side to top of the FIFA ranking for three years straight. Yet it could be argued Martinez’s crop of talent was Belgium’s best opportunity to obtain silverware which he ultimately didn’t achieve.
Resignation after the Red Devils failed to progress from the 2022 World Cup group stage led him to Portugal, where his perfect qualification campaign has already set some Portugal national team records.
Who Could Do with Him?
It’s hard to say given his record in English football contains both fights for relegation and Everton’s best ever Premier League season. Since managing internationally though, he has coached world-class talents. His possession-based football could work at Brighton, who have just parted ways with Roberto De Zerbi. Although not in the race, having been born in Catalonia, I don’t think he would be a bad Xavi replacement.
Formation / Style of Play:
3-4-2-1 / 3-1-4-2 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3
Portugal played in just about every formation during qualifiers but twice, and in their most recent friendly, with a 3-4-2-1 which overloads the midfield aiding possession-based and patient build-up football.
Multi-positional creative players such as Joao Felix, Bernado Silva, Otavio and Diogo Jota make more options available for Martinez but much will depend on whether he wants to lead with Goncalo Ramos or Cristiano Ronaldo up top, or pair the two.
With Belgium, he preferred a three at the back however, Portugal’s squad profile differs in that they have very capable full-backs in the likes of Diogo Dalot, Nelson Semedo, Nuno Mendes and Joao Cancelo which could make a back four more likely.
Portugal’s 9-0 win over Luxembourg in qualifiers, their biggest win in their international football history, came in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Strengths:
This Portugal side has creativity in abundance, so much so that they outscored every other nation by seven goals in tournament qualifying. They also created the most chances and keeping an average of 68.3 percent possession across the 10 games helped keep their opponents at bay, conceding the least amount of goals and keeping the most clean sheets.
Bruno Fernandes led the qualifiers in assists, creating goals on seven occasions and creating big chances 11 times. He also bagged six in 10 himself, with talisman Cristiano Ronaldo scoring 10 in 10.
In midfield they also have one of the world’s best enforcers. Joao Paulinha led the Premier League this season in tackles and was top 10 in interceptions.
Weaknesses:
Well, not many in the qualifiers. They went a perfect 10 for 10 and kept clean sheets in nine out of the 10 games, all while scoring 36 goals.
They did, however, suffer their first loss of Martinez’s tenure in March. With just three at the back, and without midfield enforcer Joao Paulinha, they were left exposed following two slick Slovenia counter attacks, losing 2-0, despite controlling 64 percent of possession.
The captain Cristiano Ronaldo is probably the best European player of all time, but relying heavily on the 39-year-old could backfire with the capable Goncalo Ramos waiting in the wings. If opting to pair the two, high-quality wide players such as Rafael Leao could then miss out. Whoever starts, Martinez must tread carefully in order to avoid a disgruntled CR7 and unsettled Portugal camp.
Player to Watch:
Cristiano Ronaldo -
Who else? In what could be his final major tournament for country, Ronaldo will grab headlines whether from the bench or penalty spot. This will be his sixth appearance at the competition, having made a record 25 appearances and scored a record 14 goals already. But the question is, at the ripe old of 39 is he still who the team should be relying on? After all, when CR7 was benched in the 2022 World Cup Goncalo Ramos scored a hat-trick. Yes, he’s scoring for fun still in the Saudi league, but does anyone actually value that? Martinez does, saying: “A player who scores 42 goals in 41 games for his club shows continuity, a physical ability to always be fit and quality in front of goal that we really like and need.” Both him and Pepe look to continue defying age and replicate their 2016 Euro triumph.
One for the Future:
Antonio Silva –
The 20-year-old Benfica centre back is catching the attention of Europe’s top clubs. Benfica have shown they are no scrubs in the transfer market and get their moneys worth, commanding an English record fee for Enzo Fernandez. The next potential big-money departure from the Eagles could be the Rolls-Royce defender Antonio Silva. His composure and maturity was clear from an early age, when he was thrust into the first team from 18-years-old and he has been a fixture in the first-team ever since. The Benfica fans know him to be reliable and make few mistakes, as part of a defence that kept the most clean sheets in the Portuguese top-flight this season. He could soon follow in the footsteps of former Benfica defender Ruben Dias, who he may play alongside this Euro’s campaign.
Unlucky to Miss Out:
Pedro Goncalves –
You can’t have much better a season than Pedro Goncalves, who finished with 11 goals and 12 assists in the Portuguese top flight for champions Sporting Lisbon. Despite this, and his versatility across attacking positions, he was vacant from the preliminary squad. The only good news is that the forward is still only 25-years-old so still has time to build on his two Portugal appearances to date.
His teammates Francisco Trincao and Nuno Santos also missed out. Although having never made a senior Portugal appearance previously, Santos has experience playing wing-back and could have provided cover for Nuno Mendes following an unfortunate late season injury to Raphael Guerreiro, which ruled the 30-year-old out of contention.
Likely Line Up:
Costa; Dias, Pepe, Silva; Dalot, Paulinha, Fernandes, Cancelo; Silva, Felix; Ronaldo.
Fixtures:
Matchday 1 – Portugal vs Czech Republic – 18th June
Matchday 2 – Turkey vs Portugal – 22nd June
Matchday 3 – Georgia vs Portugal – 26th June
Verdict:
Portugal possibly have the nicest group stage and it would be a shock if they were not to progress top. Building form and confidence early is an important step.
This team has gone all the way before. Although they are never necessarily considered the favourites, they have the capabilities to beat anyone. Only conceding two goals in qualification bodes well for tournament football if they can be hard to beat.
Funnily enough, in Euro 2020 they were outdone by Martinez’s Belgium but with the tactician now in their dugout, expect them to reach the semi-finals minimum. That’s if they are not the subject of an upset, which they were at the 2022 World Cup losing to Morocco.
Slovenia recently exposed a vulnerability attacking them on the counter, so they must take their chances and make use of dominant possession. If they can win, expect iShowSpeed to appear out of nowhere at the afterparty.
Eduardo Tansley (@TansleyEduardo)