Portugal vs Belgium Betting Tips & Predictions

Portugal were in friendly action last Friday when they suffered a surprising 1-0 home defeat to Bulgaria despite naming a strong side that included Cristiano Ronaldo who played the full 90 minutes. It continued their recent poor form in friendly matches given they’ve lost non-competitive games to the likes of Cape Verde and Russia over the past 12 months. They qualified with relative ease though winning all 7 matches after a surprise early defeat to Albania.

Belgium’s preparations for the Euros have been disrupted by the postponement of matches due to recent terrorist attacks but they’ll be grateful that this game will go ahead even though it will now be an away game. Their Euro 2016 hopes are also being dented by an injury crisis that is gripping the squad and they will be without the likes of De Bruyne, Hazard and Kompany here. Their international record over the past 2 years is excellent though. They’ve won 18 of their 22 games in that period including all of their 5 games this season.

The visitors may be without some key players but they do boast real strength in depth to their squad these days with an incredible generation of Belgian talent to rely on. Given their impressive form and Portugal’s unpredictable perhaps unreliable reputation it is surprising to see the Portuguese are such clear favourites for this game. It is doubtful whether Ronaldo will play the full 90 minutes with Real Madrid no doubt eager that doesn’t happen and backing Double Chance – Draw or Belgium at 4/6 might be where the value is in this game.