Spain vs Portugal Preview

2021 UEFA Nations Cup finalists Spain will face 2019 winners Portugal this Thursday at the Estadio Benito Villamarín in Sevilla.

This rivalry, which is called the ‘Iberian derby’, is one of the oldest national football rivalries and is the first game for both teams in this year’s UNL campaign.

For the hosts, they come into this tie as favourites for the win given their form. They have won their last four games and are looking to make it five consecutive wins for the first time since September 2019.

Los Rojas have kept three clean sheets in their last four games and have only lost one game at home in the UNL (W4, L1), with three of those wins coming by at least a four-goal margin.

However, Luis Enrique has a poor record in this fixture with four of his meetings with Portugal ending in a draw, including three goalless stalemates.

For Portugal, they will also be looking to end their poor record against their Iberian rivals. The last time they beat Spain in a game was in 2004, and they have never won away against Spain.

But that can change in this game given that they have put themselves in a good mood coming into this game with coach Fernando Santos hinting that “we are going into it to win it.”

Such talk isn’t exactly backed up by powerful form. Portugal needed the playoffs to qualify for the 2022 World Cup as they were beaten to the top place by Serbia. However, to their credit they won against Turkey (3-1) and North Macedonia (2-0) to qualify and will hope to make it three wins in three games when they travel to Seville on Thursday.