Portugal is through to the round of 16 after narrowly squeaking through after finishing third in Group F. Portugal will have its work cut out for them when they face Croatia in a highly anticipated knockout stage match on Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. lived to fight another day at Euro 2016. The question now is can Portugal get through a tough Croatia team when the two countries do battle in a highly anticipated round of 16 match on Saturday?
Ronaldo carried his country on his shoulders just to even get to this stage. The Real Madrid star forward netted two goals in a 3-3 draw against Hungary, as Portugal rallied from one-goal deficits three times to earn a hard-fought point and remain alive in the tournament.
“A crazy game,” Ronaldo told eufa.com in a post-match interview following the draw against Hungary. “We were out of the European Championship three times and we were always chasing the game.”
Portugal squeaked into the knockout stage finishing third in Group F, while Croatia had a much more convincing round-robin stage that included a win over Spain and finishing first in Group D with seven points.
For that, the Croatians enter this match as the slim favorites, and for good reason. Croatia breezed through group play with a pair of victories while scoring five goals in the process. Bovada has Croatia at +120 to defeat Portugal in regulation. The online sportsbook also puts Croatia at +700 to advance to the quarter-finals by winning in extra time.
Bovada has a +385 line that the game’s opening goal will come prior to the 10-minute mark, but it’s more likely this one will go right down to the wire.
Croatia is also +295 favorites to take the victory by a one-goal margin — a likely outcome considering both of the team’s wins in the group stage came by a single marker.
Ivan Perisic has been nothing short of spectacular for Croatia as the Inter winger now has two goals and sits among the tournament’s scoring leaders. He’ll be a good bet to open the scoring for the Croatians, who will be looking to jump out of the gate in the match.
This is only the third meeting between these two countries with Portugal taking their last encounter in an international friendly in 2013. Portugal blanked Croatia 3-0 at the 1996 Euro championships.
After Ronaldo’s final group stage performance, it’ll be hard to bet against Portugal to come out on top. Ronaldo is starting to find his game and that could mean a deep run in the tournament. They’ll have to get through Croatia first, which they will.
Pick: Portgual (+221)
Category : News
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