UEFA Nations League: Spain vs. Portugal Preview, Odds, Prediction

Spain and Portugal meet in the UEFA Nations League Round 1 at Estadio Benito Villamarín in Sevilla. The Iberian Derby, as many refer to this rivalry, draws enormous attention as it might show the current condition of two World Cup contenders. Both the Red Fury and the Selecao have the highest possible ambitions, so it is no wonder why everyone wants to watch this event. On one side, Lusi Enrique has a very good team, composed of a mixture of youngsters, and the players who are about to enter their prime. On the other side, Portugal has more veterans, but the next generation of players is slowly taking over the wheel.

Preview

Spain (+110) comes into this event with four consecutive victories, two in the World Cup qualifiers and two in friendly international clashes. Overall, this unit won seven of the past eight events and in general, plays very good football.

Luis Enrique copied some of Barca’s tika-taka philosophy and applied it to the Spanish team, and we now see two youngsters, Predri and Gavi, in Xavi’s and Iniesta’s roles. For the moment, they are doing pretty well.

Spain struggles with scoring because neither Alvaro Morata nor Ferran Torres can play like Fernando Torres or David Villa. Morata’s inefficiency cost the Red Furt dearly in the past, so Enrique needs to come up with a solution for a striker position pretty fast.

Portugal (+225) failed to show up at the most recent EURO, and they were one of the biggest disappointments for us. So many stars and world-class players should have been better. To make it even worse, they would fail to reserve the ticket for Qatar directly but had to go through playoffs to reach the World Cup.

After beating Turkey, 3-1 in the semis, they faced North Macedonia at home as well, winning that clash 2-0, without too much trouble. Their sole loss following the EURO came at home against Serbia, 1-2, which was why they had to go through the playoffs.

Portugal plays tactical football without really over excelling except in the moments when they really need to push because of a certain reason. In five of the last seven games, they’ve kept clean sheets and that shows how strong of a backline this unit has.

Latest News

Pedri is out for this one, as Barca’s young star needs to take some rest. Also, Laporte won’t play, as well as David De Gea.

Among the guests, City’s Ruben Dias is out, and we probably won’t see Diogo Jota, who played in the UCL finals last Saturday. He is with the team but could rest.

Head to Head Games

The last three games between these two nations saw a draw. The most recent ones in 2020 and 2021 ended without goals, while the contest at the 2018 World Cup finished 3-3, in one marvelous event.

Prediction

Spain didn’t concede in 13 of the previous 15 first halves. On the other side, Portugal, too, is very rough in defense, and everything points out that there won’t be too many goals. Our pick here is under 2.5 scores, with the current odds at -125.

Pick: Under 2.5 goals -125