Belgium

The leader of the national team rankings, the Belgian team, started the Euro 2020 tournament with a crushing victory against the Russians (3:0), seemingly showing that they are rightly considered one of the tournament favorites. However, in the second group match, the Belgians faced the Danish team and had to catch up after conceding a very early goal due to a defender's mistake. The Belgians, who couldn't find their game in the first half, returned to the match when K. De Bruyne came on the field, not only creating a chance for T. Hazard to score but also scoring himself. This victory demonstrated the Belgian character, and Denmark, as we see, has already made it to the top 8 teams, further confirming the fact that it is difficult to come back into the game against such a strong team.

The Belgians have not lost in 12 consecutive matches, but this team does not have a good head-to-head history against the Portuguese team – the last time the Belgians defeated the Portuguese was in the 1989 World Cup qualifiers. Nevertheless, this year's Belgian team is full of individually talented players who show good team play. T. Hazard, E. Hazard, K. De Bruyne, and R. Lukaku are the main leaders of the team, and the often shaky Portuguese defense may have trouble containing them.

To win against Portugal, it is important for the Belgians to start the match strongly and keep their heads, unlike in the match against Denmark. If a similar scenario repeats, the Portuguese might score more than one goal, and it would be more difficult to come back into the match against this team. A good start, confidence, and not allowing the Portuguese to impose their game will be the main aspects for the Belgians to win.

Portugal

The group stage of Euro 2020 was mixed for the Portuguese team. In the opening match, the Portuguese played a draw with the Hungarians until the 84th minute, then scored 3 goals in a few minutes and won convincingly, although the result might give a misleading impression of the Portuguese game. In the next match against Germany, the opponents showed how porous the Portuguese defense is, scoring 4 goals, almost all of which came from gross defensive errors by the Portuguese. A 2:2 draw with the world champion French team secured a place in the round of 16 for the Portuguese, but even in that match, the French were very close to a third goal, which would have left the Portuguese out.

Portugal is the 2016 European Championship winner and is defending the champion's title in this tournament, but to do so, they will need much better defense than we saw in the group stage. Completely stopping the Belgian attack is unlikely, and scoring more goals than the Belgians in a high-scoring match will be difficult. For the Portuguese to win this match, they will need to show a champion's character and avoid gross defensive errors, as the Portuguese attack is not the biggest problem, and we will undoubtedly see a Portuguese goal in this match. The final result will depend on how well the Portuguese can slow down the Belgian attack.

Predicted starting lineups:

Belgium
Courtois; Alderweireld, Boyata, Vertonghen; Meunier, Tielemans, Witsel, T Hazard; E Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne;

Portugal
Patricio; Semedo, Dias, Pepe, Guerreiro; Moutinho, Danilo, Sanches; Bernardo, Ronaldo, Jota.

Prediction

This football spectacle should be high-scoring, as both teams show good offense, but the fact that we haven't seen good defense from the Portuguese and if the Belgians have opportunities to attack as freely as the Germans or the French did, we might see many goals. The Belgian team looked more confident in the group stage and has fewer gaps in their game, so it is likely that the Belgians will advance to the next stage after a tough fight.