Euro 2016 preview and odds: France vs Portugal

Published on: 09/07/2016

Euro 2016 preview and odds: France vs Portugal

Stade de France, Saint-Denis - 20:00pm 10 July 2016

Final

In a tournament that has perhaps lacked classic matches, France and Portugal will bring the Euro 2016 proceedings to an end when they battle it out for the title in Saint Denis on Sunday night.

Hosts on target for third tournament win on home soil

European final matches do not always live up to their billing but Sunday`s final between France vs Portugal at least has the potential to be an intriguing tactical affair.

France have made full use of their squad in this tournament, often switching starting line-ups and tweaking systems and formations in-game, and from one fixture to the next. Portugal have also fielded plenty of players throughout the tournament and have changed their approach significantly from the groups stage, where they tried to dominant games but were often wasteful in front of goal to the knockout stages, where they have been more cautious in approach and have been much tighter in midfield and stifled their opponents.

With both sides seemingly unable to settle on a preferred line-up, predicting the starting XIs on Sunday could be tricky. Will Fernando Santos go with William Carvalho or Danilo? Will Didier Deschamps switch to a 4-3-3 and play N`Golo Kante or will he stick with the side that disposed of world champions Germany?

With so much at stake, the first half of this game could be tense and cautious with either side weighing up the other and looking to manage the risk when going forward. For this reason, set pieces could come into play and winning corners and free kicks in crucial areas could be vital.

Form (all competitions):

Portugal: WWWDD

France: WWWDW

Betting predictions

Both teams arrive at the final with very similar statistics in terms of possession, passes, corners and defensive recoveries. However, France have been slightly more efficient at finishing off games. And of course, they have the tournament`s most effective forward player (Antoine Griezemann) in their side.

You can back France to lift the trophy at 4/9 and Griezemann to score anytime at 11/8 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 09/07/2016

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (09/07/2016 17:45:56) but are subject to change.