Hungary vs Portugal Preview, Possible Line-Ups, Betting Odds & Predicted Score

Portugal will be desperate for a win to book their place in the knockout stages of Euro 2016 when they take on Hungary at the Stade de Lyon in their final group match on Wednesday night.

Hungary head in to the game sitting top of Group F on four points with a late Birkir Saevarsson own goal salvaging a 1-1 draw against Iceland last time out which followed their opening 2-0 win over Austria last Tuesday.

The bookies are not giving Hungary much of a chance to beat Portugal but a win would secure qualification as group winners while a draw would also be enough if Iceland fail to beat Austria in the groups other game. Defeat could see Hungary drop to third place if Iceland win but they should still progress to the knockout stages of the tournament as one of the six third-placed teams.

It’s been a disappointing championship for Portugal so far as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland in the first round which led to the Real Madrid super-star making some unsavory comments towards the European minnows.

The 31-year-old’s frustrating tournament continued after Portugal were held to a 0-0 stalemate by Austria last time out with Ronaldo having a game to forget after hitting the woodwork, having a goal disallowed before wasting a golden chance to claim all three points after missing a late penalty, so he’ll be looking to made amends tomorrow night.

Two draws have left Portugal sitting third in Group F on two points but a win would see them leapfrog Hungary and possibly even top the group if Iceland fail to beat Austria while a draw would leave Fernando Santo’s men sweating on qualification to the last 16.

Possible line-ups

Portugal: Patrício; Vieirinha, Carvalho, Pepe, Guerreiro; André Gomes, Danilo, João Moutinho, Quaresma; Nani, Ronaldo.

Hungary: Kiraly, Lang, Juhasz, Guzmics, Kadar, Kleinheisler, Nagy, Gera, Stieber, Dzsudzsak, Szalai.

Predicted score

Portugal were supposed to breeze through this ‘easy’ group but they’ve struggled to convert their chances and Ronaldo has understandably taken a lot of the blame as all the pressure is on his shoulders. However, despite their poor form so far, Portugal are still the clear favourites to win this game and they should be confident of doing so as they’ve won all five of their previous meetings with Hungary.

I still don’t think this will be as straightforward as some are predicting as Hungary have proven already they can be a dangerous side on their day, but in the end I think we’ll see Portugal come through and win this game 2-1 to book their place in the knockout stages where they could now face England in the last 16.

Betting odds & tips

Portugal are the heavy favourites at odds of 1.55 and while some bettors may be tempted by Hungary at 6.5, we still think the smart money is on a Portuguese victory. However, here are a couple of other bets:

Exact score: If you fancy betting on the correct score our tip is Portugal to win 2-1. They may have only scored 1 goal so far but they’ve created plenty of chances and with Ronaldo and Nani in attack, Portugal have the potential to score a couple of goal tomorrow night.

Scorecast: For even more value, we’d back Portugal to win 2-1 with Ronaldo as first scorer in a scorecast. The Madrid man has endured a difficult tournament so far but he’s far too good a player for his slump to continue and we think he’ll break his drought against Hungary.

It’s been a fascinating Euro 2016 so far and Portugal will be hoping they can secure a much-needed win tomorrow to book their place in the knockout stages. Let’s be honest, it would be a disaster to lose Ronaldo – arguably the tournaments best player – before the business end of the competition even begins.