Paulo Bento faces one injury that will force him to disrupt his usual eleven that he has selected to start each of Portugal's 4 games so far at Euro 2012. That absentee is Helder Postiga, who miss out with a hamstring injury sustained against the Czech Republic in the last round.
His likely replacement is Hugo Almeida, who made his first appearance of the tournament when Postiga was stretchered off in the last round.
Previously to that, Nelson Oliveira had come on for Postiga in each of the three group games, though he is considered more of an impact sub and so is unlikely to play from the off.
Otherwise, Portugal are again likely to be unchanged.
Spain have no injury worries or suspensions to worry about, so Vicente del Bosque could field the same XI again, with Cesc Fabregas to start in the 'false 9' position.
Xabi Alonso will continue to have the freedom to roam the pitch and get forwards once again, with Xavi and Busquets playing more defensively. His 2 goals against the French saw Spain through to the semi-finals, and he will look to add to Spain's goal threat here.
Fernando Torres will hope to get a chance from the bench once again and add to the 2 goals he has already at Euro 2012.
Prediction
Spain continued their march towards yet another title at a major tournament with a thoroughly convincing 2-0 win over France, a game which they never even looked like losing. Once again, they dominated possession, and made it count against a lacklustre French defence. Portugal concede plenty of goals (4 in 4 matches at Euro 2012) and Spain should therefore be confident of finding the net on at least one occasion.
Portugal will probably plan on allowing the Spaniards to take control of the ball, and hit them on the counter attack, as they did so effectively against the Netherlands, with star man Cristiano Ronaldo the one to stop. Real Madrid teammate Alvaro Arbeloa will come face to face with Ronaldo and will be charged with stopping him. Del Bosque may even employ Sergio Busquets to double up on him with Arbeloa, which could create spaces in other parts of the pitch for the likes of Nani to exploit.
However, while Portugal have one of the world's best players in Ronaldo, there is only so much he can do, and Spain are simply a class above in just about every other position on the pitch. They will pass the ball about, eventually wearing their opponents down and Portugal will be powerless to resist.
-
AndreyNosatii
47 weeks ago
-1
Report
-
RovaniemiAZE
47 weeks ago
+2
Report
-
RovaniemiAZE
47 weeks ago
+3
Report
-
wawa
47 weeks ago
+1
-2
Report
-
truth1984orwell
47 weeks ago
+3
Report
-
FootballSaga_
47 weeks ago
-2
Report
-
wawa
47 weeks ago
+1
-2
Report
-
footballgod
47 weeks ago
+1
-2
Report
-
LessBlues
47 weeks ago
+2
-2
Report
-
bussal
47 weeks ago
+1
-3
Report
See all 22 commentsRamos is man of the match !
Rovshan Akberov in face
LOL ronaldo:)))
man of the match Pique
Pepe wasnt the man of the Match.
LoL Ronaldo.
Spain v Portugal match report available at funnyoldgamefootball DOT blogspot DOT com
ole!
nice one LessBlues...
I am thankful for this match. I didn't get enough sleep last night.
Germany !!