So we have the last match of what has been a great European Championship. Portugal against France, Cristiano Ronaldo against Antoinne Griezmann. In some ways this is also a repeat of the Champions League final as we see the two leaders from those two teams once again go head-to-head. Griezmann will try and exact revenge this time, the Atletico Madrid man and his team are the favourites here.
The chances of a French win are almost twice as likely as those of a Portuguese one according to the bookies. However, it is always difficult for a host nation to play in such an important match due to the highly pressurised environment. With this in mind it is no wonder that no team has won a European Championship on home soil for 32 years. Moreover, almost all of them have lost in the semi finals, particularly between 1988 and 2000. In recent times though, this trend has declined as the hosts have not been particularly strong teams (Switzerland/Austria 2008 and Poland/Ukraine 2012).
Anyway, in terms of this game, I believe France will score in the second half but will find it difficult in the first half due to the pressure. The French have already beaten their toughest opponent in Germany but we saw in that match how they lost control of the first half to the Germans, despite a good opening spell. With this in mind I’m going for 0-0 at half time and France to win the second half at good odds of 15/4.
Of course we should pay attention to who the referee in this match is – Mark Clattenburg. I have noticed that the Englishman is very reluctant to give yellow cards in the first half whereas in the second he seems to wave them about left, right and centre.
Because of this I advise two tips involving cards, firstly, for there to be a card in between the 46th minute and the 60th minute at 9/10. This is when Clattenburg will likely take no nonsense and thus dish out cards for even the minor fouls. Secondly, more than 3.5 cards in the second half at the good value price of 7/4.
For other tips for tonight’s game click here.