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A last-gasp victory against the Czech Republic, combined with a dominating 3-0 win over Turkey, saw Portugal hit the ground running at Euro 2024 and meant manager Roberto Martínez could make wholesale changes to his side for their final game against Georgia, which ended in a 2-0 defeat. Still, it didn’t stop the Seleção from preserving their 100% record (9/9) of reaching the knockout stages of this competition - and doing so as group winners.
That set up this tie against Slovenia, a side that might cause some trepidation within the Portugal camp after they handed Martínez his first defeat as manager of the 2016 European champions back in March (2-0). Not only will they be bidding for revenge, but Portugal also fell at this stage in their title defence in the 2020 edition of this tournament, so the pressure is on to set up a blockbuster quarter-final tie against either France or Belgium.
While Portugal are dab hands at making it to this stage of the Euros, Slovenia made history when they held England to a 0-0 draw to secure their passage to the knockout stages for the very first time. That result extended their impressive undefeated record in 2024 to eight matches (W3, D5), with Denmark the last team to defeat them back in November 2023.
It’s been draws that have dominated of late Matjaž Kek’s men though, with each of their last four outings ending all square. That added to Slovenia’s Euros record of five draws in six matches, and interestingly, that 83% draw ratio is higher than any other side in the tournament's history.
Key battle: Cristiano Ronaldo was pulled off after 66 minutes in the defeat to Georgia, and he’s still without a tournament goal, yet it’d be premature to write off the Portugal icon who’d attempted more shots than anyone else at the end of the group stage (12). Trying to continue keeping him quiet will be Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who hasn’t allowed Ronaldo to score past him the last five times they’ve played against each other since the striker netted a hat-trick in the 2018/19 Champions League while he was at Juventus.
Hot streak: Each of Portugal’s last 13 matches have produced at least two goals.
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