Portugal vs Turkey Predictions

• Portugal’s defeat to Serbia last time out was their first at home in World Cup qualifying since 2008
• Turkey have never beaten Portugal in a competitive game
• Portugal have won five of their last seven matches

Portugal to progress?

With Italy potentially awaiting the winners of this clash, there is a mouth-watering week ahead in World Cup qualifying, and Portugal are highly fancied to get past Turkey.

Fernando Santos’ side were consigned to the play-offs after losing 2-1 to Serbia in November, their first defeat since the European Championships last summer.

But they boast a strong record on home soil, where they have been defeated just twice in 26 games since 2018 (the other loss was to France), winning 12 of the last 16.

Turkey aiming for history

Turkey have not qualified for a World Cup since lighting up the 2002 tournament in Japan and Korea, a miserable record they stand just two wins away from dispelling.

They are right up against it in having to travel to Portugal though, especially as they have not beaten a top-40 ranked nation on their travels since a victory in Sweden in 2018.

Indeed, their recent record against the ‘bigger’ nations is poor, with a 6-1 hammering to the Netherlands following on from Euro 2020 losses to Italy, Wales and Switzerland.

Stefan Kuntz’s side have picked up just four victories in their last 10 games outside of Turkey and they have never beaten Portugal in a competitive international.

You can never write off a team containing Cristiano Ronaldo, so I predict Portugal will win this one, especially as they have such a formidable record on home soil, selecting 3-1 as a correct score prediction.