* All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
It’s a really interesting game this one because The Aviva’s going to be full and the atmosphere’s going to be incredible. Coming into this game there’s no pressure on Ireland, all the pressure is really on Portugal here. If they fail to win this they go into their last game of the group behind Serbia when they go to play them in a couple of days’ time.
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Ireland’s results at home, they haven’t been too good in fairness, they lost to Luxembourg, they drew with Azerbaijan but they did get a credible draw with Serbia. It suits Ireland’s style of play coming up against stronger opposition where they don’t have to control the game so really I’d be looking at Ireland to get a result in this one on the +1 handicap.
Thursday 7.45pm: Ireland v Portugal
TV: RTÉ2, Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football
Already, from the bets coming in, we’ve seen a bit of faith from the Irish punters and they’re definitely backing Ireland to get something so far. I am going to go with Ireland to get a result because purely looking at the prices I think Portugal are too short.
If you’re looking at Ireland to Win or Draw the Ireland (+1) handicap is good value. I’d hope for a 0-0 or a 1-1. We saw the away leg in Portugal, it was probably our best performance under Stephen Kenny but Cristiano Ronaldo popped up with two late goals to steal the victory from us.
He’s had a bit of a knack of doing that for club and country, even since joining Manchester United, we’ve seen how many times he’s popped up with huge goals. If you can’t keep him quiet it’s a fairly big ask, but if you can keep him off the scoresheet I do think we can get a result.
If you’re looking at a goal scorer he’s the obvious pick, but instead of going for first goal scorer he’s slightly bigger price in the last goal scorer market. No one’s going to be surprised if he has the final say in the game. For a little goal scorer bet I’ll go Ronaldo to Score Last.
Ireland v Portugal Tips
Ireland (+1)
Cristiano Ronaldo to Score Last
* All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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