France (with the loss of Barcelona player Ousmane Dembélé) and Portugal star this Wednesday at the Puskas Arenas in Budapest in a match, corresponding to the final day of group F of Euro 2020, with a flavor of revenge from the final of the last edition, the 2016, in which Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates were proclaimed champions after defeating the French hosts (1-0).
France, who will play with Jules Koundé as a right-back, faces the match already classified: whatever they do, at least they will be in the second round as one of the best third parties. The ‘bleus’ lead the ‘group of death’ with 4 points and are followed by Germany and Portugal, with 3. Hungary, which will close this group phase against the German team, has only added one.
Portugal thrashed Hungary (0-3), but lost to Germany (2-4). France, world champions, debuted by beating Germany (1-0) and did not go past 1-1 against Hungary. “The important thing is that we depend on ourselves,” said Fernando Santos, Portugal coach. Pepe affirmed that “we have the capacity to beat France, we must regain our fighting spirit.” Portugal is going to continue defending their title. It is a party to the limit for CR7 and its companions.
Deschamps does not enter into calculations
Didier Deschamps, who assured that Dembélé's departure (which may be low for 4 months) was “very sad”, did not want to assess that they are classified for the eighth even as one of the best third parties. “I do not enter into that calculation, you have to respect the game. Other teams depend on our result, which must be the best possible ”, said the French coach. Hugo Lloris, goalkeeper and captain of France, admitted that the defeat to Portugal in the final of Euro 2016 “still hurts.”
It will be a great duel between the European champion, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, and the world champion, with Kylian Mbappé or Antoine Griezmann at the helm. For CR7 and theirs, it is at stake to continue or be left out of their fight to defend the title they achieved five years ago. Since then, Portugal and France have already met twice, specifically in the Nations League: 0-0 on October 11, 2020 on French soil and the Portuguese defeat by 2-1 on November 14, 2020.
Portugal-France
Puskas Arena, 21.00 (Telecinco)
Portugal: Rui Patricio; N. Semedo, Pepe, Dias, Guerreiro; Danilo Pereira, Renato Sanches, Bruno Fernandes; Bernardo Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Jota
Coach: Fernando Santos
France: Lloris; Koundé, Varane, Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez; Kanté, Tolisso, Pogba; Griezmann; Benzema and Mbappé
Coach: Didier Deschamps
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)