PORTUGAL take on Serbia in their second World Cup 2022 qualifying clash TONIGHT.
Cristiano Ronaldo and co. will be itching to make it to the Qatar showpiece next year and got off to a winning start when they beat Azerbaijan earlier this week.
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But it's the Serbs who are top of the group after the opening game, with a stunning Aleksandar Mitrovic lob helping them to a 3-2 win over Ireland.
What time does Serbia vs Portugal kick-off?
- Serbia's clash with Portugal will get going from 7.45pm UK time on Saturday, March 27.
- The game will take place at the Rajko Mitic Stadium in Belgrade where Red Star play their games.
- There will be no fans in attendance because of coronavirus restrictions.
What channel Serbia vs Portugal on and can I live stream it?
- Portugal's visit to Serbia will be shown live on the Sky Sports Red Button.
- You can live stream the clash from the Sky Sports app, which is available for download onto your mobile and tablet device.
- Non-Sky Sports subscribers can still watch all the action with a Now TV Day Pass.
Stay up to date with each twist and turn from Belgrade with our live blog…
- Nyle Smith
RUB-BING UP THE RIGHT WAY
When Manchester City splashed £56 million on Ruben Dias in the summer, it raised a cause for concern on whether he would fit the bill.
Some City fans openly came out and suggested that they were underwhelmed with the big money signing.
But the 23-year-old’s arrival at the Etihad has been nothing short of a revelation to a back-line that were susceptible to conceding so many goals.
The former Benfica central defender is a permanent fixture in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI and he has been one of the main reasons why City went on a 28-game unbeaten run before it was ended by their fierce rivals from down the road, Manchester United.
Portuguese head coach, Fernando Santos will be hoping that Dias can continue this scintillating form into the World Cup Qualifiers and one of his fellow compatriots has already been singing his praises.
Ex-Real Madrid star Pepe told Tribuna Expreso that: “Ruben Dias is already the best Portuguese centre-back in the world, I have already said that.
“Not only that, but he’s a very smart player as well.
“I have had huge respect for Ruben from the very first day he arrived at the national team.
“I was also happy to see him leave for a club like Manchester City where he will keep progressing and growing.”
Unfortunately, the 38-year-old has been ruled out of the qualifiers due to injury but Pepe will be hoping that Ruben Dias will continue to flourish against Serbia tonight.
- Nyle Smith
THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN
Portugal have arrived and they have their sights fully focused on ending tonight top of group A.
- Nyle Smith
PORTUGAL BENCH
Sa, Neto, Duarte, Mendes, Andre Silva, Palhinha, Rafa Silva, Sanches, Neves, Pedro Neto, Rui Silva, Felix
- Nyle Smith
PORTUGAL XI
The Portuguese head coach has made a lot of changes himself for this early top of the table clash.
Jose Fonte and Cedric Soares replace Duarte and Nuno Mende in the back-line.
The Wolves midfield three of Pedro Neto, Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves have all been rotated for Pereira, Oliveira and Bruno Fernandes.
And Diogo Jota steps in for Andre Silva to partner Bernardo Silva and the Portuguese marksman Cristiano Ronaldo up top.
12 Lopes, 21 Soares, 4 Dias, 6 Fonte, 20 Cancelo, 13 Pereira, 14 Oliveria, 8 Fernandes, 10 Bernardo Silva, 17 Jota, 7 Cristiano Ronaldo
- Nyle Smith
SERBIA BENCH
Petkovic, Spaijc, Maksimovic, Radonjic, Jovic, Rajkovic, Zivkovic, Krsticic, Grujic, Ristic, Djuricic, Nkolic
- Nyle Smith
SERBIA XI
Dragan Stojkovic has gone for a wholesome of changes tonight but he has fielded a side with lots of attacking talent.
Milinkovic-Savic and Gudelj have been brought into the middle of the park to replace Lukic and Racic.
Kostic and Lazovic will be operating the wings.
But the one obvious change in personnel is up-front where the all-time top goal-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic steps in for Djuricic and deservedly so after the Fulham striker bagged two coming off the bench against the Republic of Ireland in the last match.
1 Dmitrovic, 4 Milenkovic, 13 Stefan Mitrovic, 2 Pavlovic, 22 Lazovic, 20 Milinkovic-Savic, 8 Gudelj, 17 Kostic, 10 Tadic, 18 Vlahovic, 9 Aleksandar Mitrovic
- Nyle Smith
THE TEAM SHEETS ARE IN!
- Nyle Smith
ROSES ARE RED
Tonight’s venue goes by the name of the Rajko Mitic Stadium but it was previously known as the Red Star Stadium.
It’s so nice, they had to name it twice.
- Nyle Smith
PORTUGAL’S SQUAD UPDATE
The Portuguese will have to continue without 3x Champions League winner, Pepe who was withdrawn from the squad due to injury.
Raphael Guerreiro is another experienced personnel who has been ruled out of the World Cup qualifiers and after the left-back’s controversial call-up to the squad, Fernando Santos has confirmed that Guerreiro has returned back to Borussia Dortmund early.
Sporting director of Dortmund, Michael Zorc was infuriated by the Portugal Football Association’s decision to select him in the first place, because the 27-year-old had recently suffered a calf injury which kept him out for almost a month.
Zorc referred to the decision as ‘senseless’ and his outrage proved to have substance because Guerreiro was not able to recover in time.
Portugal’s manager has no other injury or fitness concerns which means that Santos has the ability to rotate tonight as he pleases.
- Nyle Smith
SERBIA’S INJURY NEWS
Dragan Stojkovic has one fresh injury concern heading into tonight’s game against Portugal.
The in-form Ruban Kazan striker Dorde Despotovic has been permitted to fly back to Russia after picking up a knock to his ankle.
This is a huge blow for the Serbian boss but it could pave the way for the Eagles all-time top goal-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic to get a place in the starting XI.
Not a bad replacement to have if you ask me.
- Nyle Smith
GROUP STANDINGS
With both teams winning their opening group game, it's perfectly poised for someone to rubber stamp their position at the top of the chart.
Serbia may have shown that they can dig deep but if the Portuguese decide to actually hit the target, then it could be a long night for the Eagles.
- Nyle Smith
PORTUGAL’S DANGER-MAN
There was only ever going to be one candidate for the player who deserves this title and after reading some of his statistics, I’m not even too sure if he’s human.
Ladies and gentleman, Portugal’s danger-man is none other than Cristiano Ronaldo and he is just an all-round goal-scorer.
Similar to Aleksandar Mitrovic, Ronaldo made his senior debut for Portugal at the age of 18 and the rest is history.
In only 170 appearances, the 36-year-old has scored a staggering 102 goals for his country which makes him the nation’s all-time top goal-scorer.
And the Portuguese forward is only the second player in history to hit more than 100 career international goals after Iran’s Ali Daei who has 109 but Ronaldo has the crown for the first ever European player to do it.
Imbedded in those 102 goals are nine hat-tricks which ties him with Sweden’s Sven Rydell for the most hat-tricks by a European man.
And ironically, one of Ronaldo’s most memorable times where he scored three goals in one match came against Sweden when he single-handedly helped Portugal win the World Cup qualifying play-offs in 2013.
We could be here all day admiring the 2016 European Championship winners’ achievements but a nice one to finish on is that Ronaldo is the only European player to score in ten consecutive international tournaments. (4x Euros, 4x World Cups, 1x Confederation Cup and 1x Nations League)
To put it plain and simple, present the Portuguese captain with an opportunity and nine times out of ten he will punish you.
- Nyle Smith
MITROVIC MASTERCLASS
Goal number 37 and 38 both came in the 3-2 win over the Republic of Ireland last Wednesday for Aleksandar Mitrovic.
And all I can say is, what a way to announce yourself as Serbia’s all-time top goal-scorer.
Brace yourself ladies and gentleman, this chip from 30 yards is not to be missed.
- Nyle Smith
SERBIA’S THREAT
Aleksandar Mitrovic could cause the Portuguese defence a lot of problems tonight if he is in the mood for it.
The Serbian forward who represents Fulham at club level, is also vastly experienced on the international stage.
Mitrovic played for the under-21’s Serbian side before making his senior national debut only four months later all at the age of 18.
And now, eight years later, the 26-year-old has netted 38 goals in only 62 appearances for his country across all competitions.
Meaning that he has quickly become Serbia’s joint all-time top goal-scorer with a lot more of his career left to play.
Serbia’s number nine is most known for his physical presence, his movement off the ball and his clinical finishing in front of goal.
Also Mitrovic did score against Portugal the last time they played but unfortunately, it was a little too late on the day
His team-mates will know that if they can get him heavily involved in the game, they have a strong chance of finally picking up three points off the European Champions.
- Nyle Smith
PORTUGUESE POWER
Here are some of the few goals in which Portugal have netted against today’s opponents including ones from the flashback post.
Warning! This video contains some screamers which may have to be watched on repeat.
- Nyle Smith
FLASHBACK
The most recent encounter between these two nations happened two years ago and in all fairness to Serbia, they put up a fight but Portugal just had too much for them.
It was an important victory for the Portuguese and their head coach Fernando Santos because they only had five points from their opening three Euro 2020 qualifying group stage games so the pressure was on.
Portugal dominated the first half but lacked that cutting edge in the final third until Serbia keeper, Marko Dmitrovic spilled a Bruno Fernandes cross enabling Carvalho to pounce and poke the ball a couple yards out only three minutes from the interval.
Every time Cristiano Ronaldo touched the ball, the Serbian crowd jeered, trying to put the Portuguese marksman off his game.
But Ronaldo’s team-mate Guedes helped him to silence the Eagles fans when he rifled home an unstoppable effort doubling Portugal’s lead.
However, Serbia managed to pull one back on the 68th minute through central defender Nikola Milenkovic when he got on the end of a corner and guided his header past Rui Patricio.
But Portugal’s captain finally got his name on the scoresheet a little over ten minutes later when Ronaldo expertly time his run to get on the end of Bernardo Silva’s pass before chipping the ball over an oncoming Dmitrovic.
With the full-time whistle rapidly approaching, Portugal were set to comfortably see this one out but Aleksandar Mitrovic had other plans.
The Serbian forward capitalised on a defensive error in the penalty area and fired his side back into touching distance of their opponents on the 85th minute mark.
But Manchester City winger, Bernardo Silva sealed the contest almost 60 seconds later with a tidy clinical finish putting his side 4-2 up in the closing stages.
- Nyle Smith
HEAD TO HEAD
In recent years, Serbia have come up against Portugal a total of six times and all games have been played in the UEFA European Championships dating back to 2007.
But the Eagles are still searching for their first victory over the Portuguese having lost three and drawn three.
There’s no better time for them to put that right other than today.
- Nyle Smith
GOOD EVENING
Greetings to the regulars who religiously tune in and to any new readers who are locking in for the first time. You are all highly appreciated.
The weekend is well under-way but everyone around the country still has protocols to follow so I understand that it continues to not be your average Saturday.
However, with the Covid-19 road map rolled out, we can potentially start travelling abroad soon and there’s a particular trip to the Middle East in 2022 which I would like everyone to join me on.
Where am I talking about you ask?
Well, Qatar will be hosting the World Cup next winter and we here on SunSport will be bringing you live coverage on many teams across Europe and how their journey to the competition plays out.
This blog will be featuring 2016 European Champions Portugal who will be travelling to the wonderful city of Belgrade to take on Serbia at the Rajko Mitic Stadium.
It’s only match-day two of the qualifying rounds and things are already heating up.
Serbia’s World Cup Qualifiers eventually got off to a good start because they conceded the first goal in the opening 20 minutes, but the Eagles completely flipped the game on its head, running out 3-2 winners against Republic of Ireland.
As for Fernando Santos’ side, despite all their attacking talent and flair within the squad, Portugal had to rely on an own goal to help them secure the victory over Azerbaijan.
But in truth, the Portuguese accumulated 68% possession and had 15 shots on goal, the forwards just never had their shooting boots on.
Tonight’s game is shaping up to be a good one folks and when it comes to international football, there’s always that little bit more pride on the line in my opinion.
So make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the starting line-ups, team news and all the drama from the game.
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