Spain vs Portugal

A mouth-watering ‘Iberian derby’ between Spain and Portugal at the Estadio Benito Villamarín will serve to get the UEFA Nations League Group A2 underway.

Runners-up in the last Nations League edition and owners of a four-game winning streak ahead of the kick-off, Spain will be seeking five successive international triumphs for the first time since September 2019. With three of those four wins yielding clean sheets and all four seeing ‘La Furia Roja’ open the scoring, it’s no wonder head coach Luis Enrique expects another quick-fire start. A recent H2H hiccup could force Enrique’s hand, as his men have drawn their last four meetings with fierce Iberian rivals, three of which finished goalless. Against this backdrop, the Spaniards have racked up four victories in their five home matches in the Nations League thus far (L1), three of which came by a winning margin of 4+ goals.

On the other hand, Portugal head into the latest edition of the Nations League in high spirits. After beating Turkey and North Macedonia by a two-goal margin in the World Cup play-offs to book their tickets for Qatar 2022, the ‘Selecao’ will be out to defeat Spain within 90 minutes for the first time since 2010. Champions of the inaugural tournament edition, Portugal will have a mountain to climb in Seville as they go after their first-ever triumph away to Spain. Portugal’s last competitive H2H triumph over fellow Iberian neighbours dates back to 2004, highlighting the desire in the travelling camp to get the new Nations League journey off to a flying start. Yet, unbeaten in their last three away internationals (W2, D1), Fernando Santos’ lads are unlikely to roll over.