Portugal vs Algeria 08/06/18

8 June 2018

After three consecutive games without a victory, the European champions, Portugal, will host Algeria at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon as a final part of their World Cup warm-up campaign. Following another weak display (a 0-0 draw with Belgium) Fernando Santos has all the reasons to be worried ahead of his team’s trip to Russia. Although they played without Cristiano Ronaldo against the Reds, A Seleção das Quinas looked faceless in attack and uncomfortable when holding the ball, which was already the case this year, against Tunisia and Netherlands. Despite possessing great quality within their respective ranks, El Khadra failed to book their ticket to Russia finishing bottom of their group with four defeats in six qualifying games. Rabah Madjer’s team continued the same way in 2018, losing three out of four matches this year in which they’ve conceded seven goals, including a scandalous three goals they’ve allowed to Cape Verde.

It will be the first historic meeting between these two teams, with Portugal looking for a way out of crisis against the struggling African side.

Fernando Santos could be happy to see his best player, Cristiano Ronaldo, joining the squad after given the extended breather because of his participation in the Champions League final. The first-choice goalkeeper, M’bolhi, and Sofiane Feghouli are both left out of the Algerian squad due to injuries.