Hello! So, in the Nations League in the heat of the second round and today in this tournament a match that deserves special attention.
PORTUGAL
At the last World Cup in Russia the Portuguese team performed quite well, but flew back at the stage of the 1/8 finals. The efforts of one Cristiano Ronaldo was not enough and Uruguay sent the Portuguese home without any problems. Now Fernando Santos has to prepare a team for the defense of the European Champion title and the preparations have not been very successful for the Portuguese on Thursday. In a friendly match with the Croatian national team did not participate Cristiano Ronaldo and beat the Portuguese could not. Already on the 18th minute Ivan Perisic struck the gates of Rui Patrizio, forcing the hosts to go forward more actively. In the middle of the first half, Pepe score equalized, but in the end the match ended in a draw 1-1 to the huge disappointment of the fans. The Portuguese had a huge advantage in the second half of the meeting and only by a miracle they did not win, so there is no special reason for concern for Santos on the eve of the match with Italy, except that Rafael Guerreiro dropped out.
ITALY
The Italian national team disgraced itself under the full program this year, failing to qualify for the World Championship in Russia. Team Sweden in the case absolutely passed the Italians, depriving the position of Giampiero Ventura. He was replaced by Roberto Mancini, immediately began to update the composition. In friendly matches shuffling did not have much success - only Saudi Arabia under Mancini managed to beat, in other matches the results were disappointing. An exception was not the game of the first round in the Nations League with the national team of Poland - the Italians routinely suffered on the field, with difficulty squeezing out a draw. Special criticism was given to Mario Balotelli, but in general the whole "Squadra Azzurra" looked bad, the game of Super Mario just caught the eye most. After a draw 1-1, the Italian coach praised the Poles and threatened to once again conduct a large-scale rotation, but experience shows that the team's play does not improve from this.
STATISTICS AND PERSONAL MEETINGS
- The last time the teams met in a friendly match in 2015, then the Portuguese team won 1-0
- Team Portugal in his field could not score Italians in only one match of the last four
- In the last six matches, the Italian team does not leave the field without a missed goal
Team Italy in recent years has seriously rejuvenated. The average age of players is now just over 26 years, but they still do not benefit from it. Returning to the team Mario Balotelli has not brought any benefit. The European champion is just entering this new tournament for himself, Cristiano Ronaldo is only just learning in Turin, but in the team we will probably not see Cristiano.
Portugal - Italy Both Team Score with 2.01 for 2% of bank.
