Portugal and Croatia, both front-runners to secure the top two positions in League A Group 1, begin their respective UEFA Nations League campaigns on Thursday at Estadio da Luz revisiting a matchup that saw 10 goals scored across two encounters when they last clashed in this tournament four years ago.

Following a turbulent yet ultimately unproductive run at Euro 2024, the Seleção were left to recover from another quarter-final setback, echoing their last-eight elimination at Qatar 2022.

This summer, a penalty shootout loss to France ended the Selecao's campaign—a tournament marked by Pepe's final appearance and the overwhelming emotion of Cristiano Ronaldo's tears.

While the 41-year-old defender has opted to retire, Ronaldo remains eager to leave the international stage on a high. Head coach Roberto Martinez has once again included the Al-Nassr star in the squad for this month's Nations League fixtures.

With UEFA's decision to expand the Nations League by adding another knockout round, a top-two finish will now be enough for the Vatreni to advance as well. Poland and Scotland are considered underdogs in the race to progress.

However, after experiencing heartache at the Euros over the summer, Thursday's visitors will be determined to steer clear of any complacency as they embark on their mission to surpass their 2023 performance when they fell to Spain in the final.

Where to Watch

Portugal vs. Croatia in the UEFA Nations League is available to live stream for free on L'Equipe.

L'Equipe is geo-restricted to France, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in France, meaning you can access free live streams on L'Equipe from anywhere in the world.

How to Watch

Access a free live stream of Portugal vs. Croatia by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
3. Open up the app and connect to a server in France
4. Visit L'Equipe
5. Live stream Portugal vs. Croatia for free from anywhere in the world

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Portugal vs. Croatia in the UEFA Nations League without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select UEFA Nations League fixtures before recovering your investment.

Kick-off Time

Portugal vs. Croatia in the UEFA Nations League kicks off at 7:45 p.m. BST on Sept. 5. This fixture takes place at the Estádio da Luz.

Team News

Roberto Martinez has revamped the hosts' roster, bringing in fresh faces like Geovany Quenda, Renato Veiga, and Tiago Santos for the first time, while opting to leave out Joao Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, and Francisco Conceicao.

Seventeen-year-old Quenda, a Sporting winger with only four senior appearances, joins the squad alongside Veiga, who recently signed with Chelsea, and Lille full-back Santos, who is also poised to make his Selecao debut.

Moreover, Pedro Goncalves, Francisco Trincao, and goalkeeper Rui Silva have been recalled, joining a squad captained by Cristiano Ronaldo, who is likely to start as the main striker.

Portugal possible XI: Costa; Dalot, Dias, A. Silva, Mendes; Palhinha, Vitinha; B. Silva, Fernandes, Leao; Ronaldo

As the hosts bid farewell to legendary Pepe, the Vatreni faces its own set of challenges with the absence of star players Domagoj Vida and Marcelo Brozovic, who retired from international play with 99 caps and will not be featuring. Veteran Ivan Perisic remains in the squad despite his departure from Hajduk Split and current lack of a club.

Injuries have sidelined Lovro Majer, Josip Stanisic, and Martin Erlic for both Thursday’s match and Sunday’s game against Poland. Additionally, Lyon’s Duje Caleta-Car is also uncertain after sustaining an injury last weekend.

With their defence stretched thin, coach Zlatko Dalic has hinted that Marin Pongracic, Kristijan Jakic, or even winger Marko Pjaca might need to step in at right-back.

Croatia possible XI: Livakovic; Pongracic, Sutalo, Gvardiol, Sosa; Modric, L. Sucic, Kovacic; Pasalic, Kramaric, Ivanusec

What to Expect

Cristiano Ronaldo enters this match at a crucial moment in his career. After a successful season with Al Nassr, where he has continued to demonstrate his goal-scoring prowess, the Portuguese star now has the chance to write a new chapter in his storied career. Reaching 900 goals is a milestone that very few players in soccer history have achieved, and Ronaldo is on the verge of joining this elite group.

Croatia, on the other hand, comes into this match to pull off a surprise and take all three points. The Croatian national team, runners-up in the 2018 World Cup, boasts an experienced and well-organized squad capable of competing at the highest level. With players like Luka Modric and Marcelo Brozovic commanding the midfield, Croatia will look to exploit any opportunity to break through Portugal’s defense.

Although Croatia won the most recent meeting between the two sides earlier this year, Portugal's historical edge over them (having won 5 of the last 8 fixtures) would see them as favorites heading into this match.

The match could be an end-to-end affair that goes down to the last minute, however, Portugal have age and squad depth in their favor which could see them edge out Croatia as victors.

Final Thoughts

Portugal will look to move on from their disappointing Euro 2024 campaign as they host Croatia in Group A1's opening match of the 2024/25 UEFA Nation's League. 

Roberto Martinez's side were one of the favorites to win this year's UEFA European Championship, however, they were knocked out by France in the quarterfinals.Croatia, runners up of the previous edition, have surprised many with their performances in international tournaments over the last decade, but the perennial dark horses had a lackluster Euro 2024 outing, where they failed to make it past the group stage.