Portugal vs Luxembourg Preview, Livestream, Team News and Possible line up

Portugal need to beat Luxembourg this Tuesday night to stay on course for top spot in Group A and Fernando Santos’ side should oblige without too much sweat at Estadio Do Algarve.

With five teams in this qualifying section, Portugal sat out the weekend’s action in Group A and that allowed nearest rivals Serbia to pressurise A Selecao with a 1-0 success of their own against the Luxembourgers, who travel to Faro here having now lost eight of their last dozen internationals, failing to score in six.

That result leaves Portugal one point behind in the two horse race for automatic qualification, though they’re still effectively in pole position with a game in hand up their sleeve.

Any slip up this Tuesday would change that situation, but it’s hard to envisage that happening on the strength of Portugal’s form, their overall home qualification record and Luxembourg’s aforementioned recent struggles.

Since exiting Euro 2020 at the hands of the Belgians, Portugal have won their last four internationals, keeping clean sheets in their last two, while they’re unbeaten in their last 18 home World Cup Qualifiers, winning 14 and maintaining shut-outs in 13.

Luxembourg aren’t exactly the whipping boys they used to be as their six point tally in Group A and FIFA Ranking of 94 confirms, however, they’re still some way off being able to seriously trouble Europe’s major nations.

Luc Holtz’ side are likely to be feeding off scraps from Ronaldo and co. at Estadio Do Algarve and a comfortable win to nil is forecasted for A Selecao, which has been the outcome in nine of the previous 11 meetings.

The visitors will try and bank up to give themselves the best chance of obtaining a positive result and they’ve conceded only 17 in their last 12 despite such poor results. With that in mind alongside our opening selection, we’re also predicting a 2-0 correct score for the action in Faro.

Portugal attacker Francisco Trincao was forced to withdraw from this month's fixtures after contracting coronavirus, while Rafa Silva, Domingos Duarte and Raphael Guerreiro will play no part due to injuries and Diogo Jota is uncertain with a muscular problem.

Ronaldo was suspended for his side's last World Cup Qualifying clash with Azerbaijan and was granted early leave to link up with his Manchester United teammates, but the 112-goal captain is primed to lead the line here.

After handing fringe players the chance to impress in the Qatar friendly, Santos should reintroduce the likes of Pepe, Ruben Dias, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva to the first XI this week.

Meanwhile, Luxembourg duo Christopher Martins and Gerson Rodrigues - the latter of whom opened the scoring against Portugal during March's defeat - are both back in the fold after serving suspensions last time out.

Both players are strong candidates to earn immediate recalls to the side here, with Rodrigues in line to replace 17-year-old Yvandro Borges Sanches while Martins could return over Olivier Thill.

Huddersfield Town's Danel Sinani was chosen to lead the line over Edvin Muratovic against Serbia and will hope to hold his place in the final third for this crunch clash.

Portugal possible starting lineup:

Patricio; Cancelo, Pepe, Dias, Mendes; Moutinho, Palhinha, Fernandes; B. Silva, Ronaldo, Leao

Luxembourg possible starting lineup:

Moris; Jans, Chanot, Carlson, Pinto; Martins Pereira; Deville, S. Thill, Barreiro, Rodriguez; Sinani

Portugal to Win First-Half

With Serbia taking pole position in Group A, Portugal can ill-afford to drop points against Luxembourg. The Navigators will have to stamp their authority from the get-go and will not like to get in a war of attrition against their rivals. Expect them to take an early lead and hold it to their advantage as the fixture progresses.

First Half Total Goals – Over 1.5

Two goals in the first half and two in the second. This was the scorecard reading when the last time Luxembourg and Portugal faced off against each other. We believe a similar pattern of events will unfold in this meeting. Fernando Santos will want his charges to start brightly and score the much-needed goals. With Andre Silva and Burno Fernandes to company Cristiano Ronaldo, we expect them to get the goals in the first half.

Both Teams to Score – No

Luxembourg managed to breach Portugal's defences in their last meeting, but that feat looks unlikely in this meeting. The Red Lions have never scored against the Navigators in an away fixture and this statistic will continue to hold true. Fernando Santos is running a tight ship with only four goals conceded in five matches and he would have instructed his charges to keep this statistic intact.