Portugal face Slovenia in the Euro 2024 last 16 with Cristiano Ronaldo hoping to open his account and guide the Selecao into the quarter-finals.
Roberto Martinez’s side are one of the favourites in Germany and a last-eight tie with France or Belgium awaits the winner of thisintriguing tie in Dusseldorf. The Selecao must bounce back after a shock loss to Georgia in their final group stage match, but after resting most of his strongest XI, Martinez can call upon a fresh and talented group here, with Ronaldo still to find his best form in the tournament.
Slovenia squeezed through England’s group in third place and will lean on the firepower of Red Bull Salzburg forward Benjamin Sesko here.
Follow all the build-up and team news from Portugal v Slovenia in Frankfurt below.
Georgia defeat keeps Portugal ‘on their toes’
Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes said that defeat to Georgia has put Portugal “on their toes” for the game against Slovenia in the last-16 this evening.
“We don’t have a lot of time to think about what was. We have to think about what’s going to be,” Fernandes said, “We respect every opponent.
“This [Slovenia] team has very relevant names, high-quality players – we respect them greatly. After the negative results, people tend to focus on the negative aspects, but this is how football works.”
Mike Jones1 July 2024 18:47
Portugal v Slovenia
Portugal won Group F despite losing 2-0 to Georgia in their final group game after boss Roberto Martinez made a whole heap of changes.
They have reached at least the quarter-finals in five of their last six European Championships, including winning the tournament in 2016.
But, Slovenia won 2-0 when the sides met in a friendly in March, ending a run of 11 Portugal victories in a row.
Mike Jones1 July 2024 18:40
Gareth Southgate’s straitjacket suffocates England again – but one lesson emerges
There was a minute left to run on Gareth Southgate’s reign, the clock ticking down on a dismal tournament that seemed a demoralising end to the second-finest tenure of any England manager.
Until Bellingham underlined that he has that combination of talent, technique and temperament to offer the promise of greatness. There had been reasons for Southgate to replace him: booked for a rash lunge at Lukas Haraslin, he had been unwise enough to lay his hands on the referee. He had endured a poor game.
Mike Jones1 July 2024 18:33
Southgate on how to improve England’s performances
“You build on the spirit that they’ve shown, the belief that they’ll have gained from that,” Gareth Southgate said following England’s 2-1 victory over Slovakia.
“Equally, we’re not naive. We’re going to play a team [Switzerland] that have looked outstanding, not just in this tournament but for quite a while as well. That’s going to be a big tactical challenge for us.
“We know that the level of our game will need to be higher, but there was a spirit and there was a togetherness that has been building.
“We’ve had a lot of problems to solve through this whole lead into the camp, through the tournament. We’re putting a plaster over different things and giving young players opportunities. We’re somehow finding a way.
“I can imagine how everybody is going to react to that, even though we’ve won. But we’re still in there and the one thing that can’t be questioned is the desire, the commitment, the character.”
Mike Jones1 July 2024 18:26
Switzerland will pose ‘big tactical challenge’ for England – Gareth Southgate
Gareth Southgate knows stumbling but spirited England have to raise their game if they are to stand a chance of beating “outstanding” Switzerland in Saturday’s Euro 2024 quarter-final.
A trip to Dusseldorf awaits after Jude Bellingham came to the rescue with a 95th-minute overhead equaliser against wily Slovakia on Sunday before Harry Kane sealed a 2-1 extra-time win.
England were seconds away from their tournament coming to an end in humiliating fashion, only to squeak through to a fourth successive major quarter-final under Southgate.
Mike Jones1 July 2024 18:19
How Southgate hopes the lessons of 1966 can inspire success at Euro 2024
He looks to the past to provide inspiration and lessons alike. If 1966 has become a profitable nostalgia industry, it is so long ago that many of the England players’ parents were not born. They could be forgiven for not knowing all the details.
At St George’s Park, before England ventured to Germany, Southgate turned back time. “We showed the players a presentation about 1966 and how Geoff Hurst hadn’t played until the quarter-final.”
Hurst ended up the hat-trick hero in the final and if that scarcely needs explaining, some of Southgate’s charges may not know that a man who achieved immortality had entered the 1966 World Cup with a lone international goal to his name.
Mike Jones1 July 2024 18:11
Jude Bellingham faces possible ban over gesture to crowd during England’s Euro 2024 win
Jude Bellingham faces a possible ban at Euro 2024 after Uefa opened an investigation into a gesture he made while celebrating the spectacular overhead kick scored against Slovakia in their last-16 tie on Sunday.
In the aftermath of his goal, Bellingham was seen shouting “Who else?!” as he ran over to England fans after scoring. Video showed the Real Madrid forward then kiss his hand and grab his crotch in a gesture which appeared to be directed towards the side of the pitch.
Mike Jones1 July 2024 18:04
Portugal v Slovenia
Slovenia and Denmark became the second and third nations to draw all three of their group stage matches at a European Championship.
The first team to do so were Portugal on their way to winning Euro 2016.
Mike Jones1 July 2024 17:57
Portugal v Slovenia
Portugal have qualified from the group stage in all nine of their Euro campaigns.

Mike Jones1 July 2024 17:50
More from Adam Gnezda Cerin
“We are prepared for Portugal,” said Gnezda Cerin, “They’re a very, very talented team and they can cause you problems all around the pitch.”

Mike Jones1 July 2024 17:44