Portugal vs Austria: EURO 2016 Group F Preview & Prediction

Portugal and Austria go into their Group F clash in Paris on Saturday night knowing that disappointing results in both of their respective opening fixtures mean that the need to pick up three points in the French capital is even more important.

Fernando Santos will be expecting a much better showing from his star man Cristiano Ronaldo, with the Real Madrid player being largely anonymous for much of the frustrating 1-1 draw against Iceland, who were playing their first match in their first ever major tournament.

Having accused his opponents of adopting a “small mentality” following Birkir Bjarnason’s second half equaliser, it remains to be seen if the prospect of facing many people’s dark horses before the tournament, Austria, is enough to provoke a reaction from the forward, who registered just one shot on target from 10 efforts in total against Iceland, and his team-mates.

Their struggle to find the net against Iceland was no surprise – all of Portugal’s seven wins in qualifying were by a one-goal margin, while they have not won their opening match at a major tournament since 2008.

Meanwhile, despite a lot of talk around the talent available to Marcel Koller in this tournament, there is little to suggest Austria will be going any further than the group stages having been convincingly beaten 2-0 by an efficient Hungarian side in the first game.

As dangerous as Bayern Munich’s David Alaba looks from distance, the Austrians will need to focus more on involving both Stoke City’s Marko Arnuatovic and Marc Janko, who struggled for service.

Both nations saw long winning runs come to an end on the opening matchday in Group F – Portugal had won seven competitive matches in a row while Austria had won nine on the bounce.

Austria hold the advantage in the head-to-head record between the two sides, winning three times compared to Portugal’s two, with five matches ending in draws.

David Alaba is Austria’s key man. Photo: Simon Stacpoole / Offside.

Team News:

Portugal Manager Santos has already publicly expressed his desire to ring the changes prior to facing Austria. Former Barcelona man Ricardo Quaresma could be in line for a recall while new Bayern Munich signing Renato Sanches is also pushing for a start, as is Southampton centre-back, Jose Fonte.

Following his red card against Hungary, Aleksandar Dragovic will be suspended on Saturday and could be replaced by either Watford’s Sebastian Prodl, or Tottenham’s Kevin Wimmer.

Zlatko Junuzovic also picked up a knock in the first game and will likely be replaced by Marcel Sabitze. Marc Janko continues to carry an injury but may well start again in support of Stoke City’s Arnuatovic.

FIFA World Ranking: Portugal – 8th; Austria – 10th
Best European Championship Finish: Portugal – Runners-Up (2004); Austria – Group Stage (2008)
Previous meeting: Austria 1-1 Portugal (October 11, 1995 – Euro 96 qualifying)
Form: Portugal – LWWLWD; Austria – LWLWLL
Key Men: Portugal – Cristiano Ronaldo; Austria – David Alaba
Shoot Says: Portugal 2-1 Austria