Croatia vs Portugal Preview

Group A1 leaders Portugal will look to wrap up their Nations League group stage campaign with a win when they travel to the Stadion Poljud to face Croatia.

The hosts were last season’s Nations League runners-up but will enter this last group game still not entirely sure of their place in the quarter-finals of the current campaign. A shock 1-0 loss to Scotland on Friday night not only have extinguished their hopes of finishing top of Group A1, but also means that they could still drop to third in the table, should they suffer a second successive defeat in this fixture against in-form Portugal.

But the good news for Croatia is that a draw will be enough to book a spot in the last eight. Getting a draw here is a reasonable expectation for them as they have been on the end of back-to-back defeats only once since June 2021. A big reason for that impressive record is that Zlatko Dalić’s side have been very tough to beat on home soil where they have lost just two of their 16 international matches over a four-year period (W10, D4).

However, Portugal will be confident of recording another away victory over Croatia given that they have lost just once in nine previous H2Hs (W7, D1). That includes a 2-1 win earlier on in this Nations League campaign, a result which has helped them secure top spot in the group.

The Iberians, who won the inaugural tournament back in 2018/19, come into this tie on the back of a thumping 5-1 victory over Poland on Friday. That win means that Portugal have remained unbeaten since their quarter-final exit at Euro 2024, winning four times in five outings (D1) and scoring a dozen goals in the process.

They also have a very good away record in the Nations League, with just one defeat to their name in ten fixtures on the road in this competition (W5, D4), a run that includes a 3-2 triumph in Croatia in 2020.