UEFA NATIONS BETTING PREVIEW - PORTUGAL VS SPAIN

UEFA Nations

2025-06-08 - Portugal vs Spain

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Portugal v Spain
Football: UEFA Nations League Final
Sunday 8th June 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV

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Portugal

There have been calls for Portugal to move past the Cristiano Ronaldo era, but the leading scorer in international football keeps underlining his goalscoring ability on the big stage. It is Cristiano Ronaldo who scored the winning goal to take Portugal through to another Nations League Final and he is expected to be leading the line for the nation when the World Cup Finals begin next summer.

Of course Portugal will have to Qualify later in the calendar year, but they will be favourites in a section containing Republic of Ireland, Armenia and Hungary. Most of their performances in the Nations League over the last several months will be enough to see off those rivals, but the focus for now is to win this tournament for a second time and really put down a marker for what is to come.

Portugal had a tough Quarter Final against Denmark and eventually overwhelmed them at home in the Second Leg, but the come from behind win over hosts Germany in the Semi Final will really have given the team confidence. Prior to that, Portugal had just shown some away vulnerabilities and they can now play this Final with plenty of belief in their abilities and depth of squad.

Roberto Martinez may choose to make one or two changes to freshen up his eleven, especially around Ronaldo in the attacking areas. Vitinha was hugely influential for Paris Saint-Germain this season and should be restored to the midfield.

Spain

The majority of fans would likely pick Spain as the best team in the world in international football and the European Champions will likely be favourites for the World Cup next summer, as long as they Qualify. Picking up a second Nations League title in a row to sandwich their European success is the kind of statement that Spain would love to make so all of the rivals for the World Cup crown are well aware of their intentions.

For the second tournament Finals in a row, Spain were able to get the better of France in the Semi Final, although the game on Thursday felt more stressful than it perhaps should have been. A 5-1 lead should have been decisive, but Spain lost an element of control and France pulled things back to 5-4 and had about a minute left to try and force the most unexpected of Extra Time periods.

Spain have not been beaten since March 2024 when losing 0-1 to Colombia in an international friendly, while they have not lost a competitive fixture since Match Day 2 of the Euro 2024 Qualifiers back in March 2023. Winning the Nations League would see them looking to keep that competitive unbeaten run through to the World Cup Finals next summer.

Substitutions did not work out as expected on Thursday as Spain almost allowed France to get back into the fixture. This should mean an unchanged lineup could be selected for the Final.

Head to Head

Spain and Portugal were paired in the same Nations League Group in the 2022/23 edition and it was the former who took 4 points from the two matches played.

Before Spain's 0-1 win in Portugal, 5 fixtures in a row had ended in draws.

Prediction

There is enough talent on the field to expect a really good Nations League Final, but also a feeling that we will need Roberto Martinez to want to select a more positive team than he has tended to do in the bigger matches played.

His hand was forced when Germany took the lead in the Nations League Semi Final, but Portugal have struggled at times under the guidance of this manager.

Roberto Martinez has to take encouragement from the vulnerabilities Spain have shown defensively in recent matches- in this calendar year alone, Spain have played three games and conceded 9 goals, which is quite alarming.

This means in their last 13 games, Spain have had 3 clean sheets, but they have remained unbeaten and able to win games thanks to the hugely impressive attacking players that can provide for them.

Those players have led Spain to Nations League success two years ago and then the European Championship twelve months ago and they may just hold the edge for the team again.

You have to believe Portugal can play their part and they have had an extra day to prepare, but this Spanish team have maintained strong momentum and may narrowly come out on top.

The Pick :

Portugal 1-2 Spain

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Spain to Win at 1.95 with BetFred