Roberto Martínez has only lost one game since taking charge of Portugal (W12), but the manager will know performances have to get better if his side are to win a second European Championship crown. The 2016 winners have had a little wobble of late, surviving a scare to beat Finland 4-2 in their warm-up fixture on Tuesday, having lost 2-0 to Slovenia in March.
With just two games to go before heading to Germany, Martínez will be hoping for an improvement against opponents Croatia. There are particular concerns to iron out in defence, given Portugal have conceded exactly twice in three successive outings (W2, L1), but their record in friendlies on home soil is outstanding, going unbeaten since a defeat to the Netherlands in 2018 (W7, D3).
History suggests they should be confident of claiming another victory when taking on their visitors, who have a dismal winless record from seven previous H2Hs (D1, L6). The Blazers will be no pushovers though, given they have tasted success in each of their last five internationals, including comfortably beating North Macedonia 3-0 on Monday.
Zlatko Dalić’s side should have plenty of belief that they can do well at Euro 2024, and Croatia do traditionally punch above their weight on the international stage, reaching the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2023 UEFA Nations League finals. However, they have not performed to quite such a level at previous UEFA European Championships, suffering round-of-16 eliminations at successive tournaments and with their sole quarter-final appearance coming way back in 2008.
Key battle: Bruno Fernandes’ brace against Finland means he has now won each of the 16 internationals in which he has scored for Portugal. Looking to prevent him from extending that record will be goalkeeper Dominik Livaković, who has kept a clean sheet in seven of his last nine appearances for Croatia.
Hot stat: Croatia have not lost an international match in which they have scored first since their round-of-16 exit to Spain at Euro 2020 (W17, D2).
