UEFA Nations League Semi-Final Preview – Portugal vs Switzerland, Wednesday 5th June 2019

In an unexpectedly exciting button to the season proper, Portugal host Switzerland in the first of the UEFA Nations League semi-finals this Wednesday, at 7.45pm on Sky Sports Football.

Like a few other teams in the competition, the Nations League provided Portugal with a chance to right themselves after a rather disappointing 2018 World Cup. There the Euro 2016 winners exited in the last-16, losing 2-1 to Uruguay following a tough opening stage where they had finished 2nd to Spain.

The inaugural Nations League saw them partnered with Italy and Poland, a pairing that perhaps sounds tougher in theory than in practice given that the former failed to reach Russia last summer and the latter ended up finishing behind Colombia, Japan and Senegal. Portugal managed a draw and a win against both countries, beating Italy 1-0 in Lisbon and Poland 3-2 in Chorzow, to top Group 3 with 8 points.

Switzerland, meanwhile, pulled off maybe the biggest surprise of the competition so far. With 6-0 and 2-1 wins over Iceland, and a 2-1 loss against Belgium, the Swiss needed to not only beat the World Cup bronze medallists’ in Lucerne, but win by 2 goals clear.

Things immediately got off to a terrible start as Thorgan Hazard opened scoring within 2 minutes, before double Belgium’s lead a quarter of an hour later. Yet a 26th minute penalty from Ricardo Rodriguez brought Switzerland back into the fixture, with Haris Seferovic drawing the Swiss level just after the half hour mark. The Benfica forward then gave his country the lead just before the break, while Nico Elvedi made it 4-2 in the 62nd minute. Seferovic then completed the comeback – and his hat-trick – with 6 minutes to go, sending Switzerland to the first ever Nations League semi-finals.

The difference maker on Wednesday could be Cristiano Ronaldo. So far the Juventus star hasn’t featured in the competition, instead adjusting to life in Italy. However, he returned for March’s Euro 2020 qualifiers, and is a key factor behind the Portugal/Switzerland Goal Supremacy spread of 0.75-0.95, alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.45-2.65.