Overview
Portugal got off to a flying start in the 2024-2025 Nations League with a 2-1 win over Croatia. Cristiano Ronaldo shined with a goal to make it 2-0, which was also the 900th goal of his career.
In the next round, Portugal will continue to play at home. This is considered a great support for the EURO 2016 champion because they have won 10/11 recent matches. Portugal even scored a total of 40 goals in these matches.
As for Scotland, they still had to accept a 2-3 defeat against Poland despite having more shots. Unfortunately for coach Steve Clarke's team, they conceded the decisive goal in the 90+7 minute after Zalewski's successful penalty kick. Scotland has now gone through a series of 5 matches without knowing the taste of victory (3 losses, 2 draws).
Portugal are unbeaten against Scotland in their last 5 encounters, winning 4 of them. With home advantage, it will not be difficult for the "European Selecao" to continue to defeat their opponents.
Since the beginning of 2024, Portugal has played 11 matches, winning 7. The rest are 1 draw (lost on penalties) and 3 losses.
In contrast, Scotland have only won one of their last 13 games, with the only team they have beaten in that time being Gibraltar.
Human resources situation
Martinez has been experimenting and changing Portugal’s tactics recently, and it’s hard to predict whether they will play with three or four defenders against Scotland.
Pedro Goncalves and Francisco Trincao could be given a chance after Rafael Leao and Pedro Neto started last time out. Nelson Semedo and Joao Neves are also in line for a start.
On the other side of the front line, Scotland said goodbye to Callum McGregor after EURO 2024. Meanwhile, Kieran Tierney is absent due to injury. The same is the case with Che Adams.
Expected lineup:
Portugal : Costa, Dalot, Dias, A. Silva, Mendes, Neves, Vitinha, B. Silva, Fernandes, Leao, Ronaldo.
Scotland : Gunn, Ralston, Hanley, McKenna, Robertson, McClean, Gilmour, McGinn, McTominay, Christie, Dykes.
The match between Portugal and Scotland takes place at 1:45 a.m. on September 9 (Vietnam time).
