Prediction: Serbia vs Portugal

Verdict: Away team win

Best odds: 6/5

Bookmaker: Bet365

Serbia will welcome Portugal to the Rajko Mitić stadium in Belgrade on Saturday evening, in what will be their fourth and Portugal’s third game of the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. Neither team will want to waste the opportunity of banking in a point or three, so it should be an interesting game for more than one reason.

Serbia

Though the Serbs have rarely achieved anything as a team, they have always had a few quality names in their ranks. Nonetheless, their main goal in these games is to qualify for the final tournament next year, and they won’t be worrying about what happens there just yet.

They managed to appear at the 2018 World Cup and even win their opening game against Costa Rica, but the subsequent back-to-back defeats to Switzerland and Brazil saw them crash out after the group stage. They changed the manager recently with former Montenegro boss Ljubisa Tumbakovic succeeding Mladen Krstajic in the hot-seat. With Krstajic at the helm they pulled a surprise by staying undefeated in Portugal, but then it was an even bigger surprise when they conceded five in Ukraine. They managed eventually to pull themselves up again by beating Lithuania 4-1 in Belgrade, and they now sit in third place with four points.

Team News

Aleksandar Kolarov of AS Roma is the team captain, and is therefore likely to start. It will however, be interesting to see who Tumbakovic names to start upfront. Aleksandar Mitrovic of Fulham has been the favorite for Krstajic, but it remains to be seen if Tumbakovic follows in the footsteps of his predecessor and overlooks the rapid rise of Luka Jovic, who moved from Eintracht Frankfurt to Real Madrid for €60 million. Milan Pavkov, who was the hero for Red Star in their surprising Champions League win over eventual competition winners Liverpool, is the third name on the forwards list.

Defenders Nikola Milenkovic of Fiorentina and Nikola Maksimovic of Napoli are also in the squad, as well as former Manchester City defender Matija Nastasic, now of Schalke 04, Ajax winger Dusan Tadic, and Crystal Palace midfielder Luka Milivojevic.

Portugal

Having won the Euro 2016, Portugal will now give their best to defend the title. But in order to do so, they will have to pick themselves up and soon, after what were certainly disappointing draws at home against Ukraine and Serbia. As European champions, they were expected to do well at the World Cup last year, but they were knocked out by Uruguay in the round of 16.

Now, they come to Belgrade where they will certainly face an atmosphere charged up in support of the home team. They do have the quality over Serbia, but they won’t find it easy to come away with three points.

Team News

Though Serbia have a few notable players, there are no stars of the calibre of those that play for Portugal in their ranks. Of course, the word “superstar” is almost synonymous with Cristiano Ronaldo these days, but the Juventus forward isn’t the only big name on the list. Bernardo Silva of Manchester City and Joao Felix of Atletico Madrid are there as well, as are midfielders Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves and Bruno Fernandes, and defenders Jose Fonte, Joao Cancelo, Raphael Guerreiro and of course, Pepe.

Conclusion

Looking at these names and the current standings in the group (with Portugal obviously needing points), it’s hard to imagine any result but a convincing away win.

However, the red-hot Belgrade atmosphere is not to be disregarded easily, it has been known to put off great teams before. But given the way Ronaldo plays his game, his hunger for goals and success should be enough to get his team home with the points in the bag.

Verdict: Away team win

Best odds: 6/5

Bookmaker: Bet365