Join us for LIVE coverage of Croatia vs Portugal.

Portugal take on Croatia in the third round of 16 clash at Euro 2016 at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens on Saturday (25 June).

Follow all of the drama of Euro 2016 through our dedicated page

Where to watch live

Kick-off is at 8pm BST. Live TV coverage of the game in the UK is available on ITV 1. Radio commentary is available on BBC Radio 5 live. Live TV coverage in India is available on Sony Six and Sony ESPN, with mobile and online coverage available on SonyLiv. Kick-off is at 12.30am IST (Sunday).

Click here for the list of Euro 2016 broadcasters across the globe.

Overview

Croatia come into this game in a buoyant mood after their win over Spain in the final group game, which enabled them to top their group and land in the favourable half. It was the defending champions' first loss in 15 Euro finals games, and it was costly as finishing second in the group sees them take on Italy in the Round of 16 with the possibility of facing Germany in the quarter-finals.

Ante Cacic made five changes for the game against Spain and even rested key players Mario Mandzukic and Luka Modric, who after suffering a slight knock in the second game is set to return to face his Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. Portugal are yet to hit top gear and will be a tricky opponent to face at this stage of the competition.

Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo needs one goal to level Michel Platini as all-time leading Euro scorer following his brace against Hungary Getty

Fernando Santos' side came through as one of the best placed third place finishers after three consecutive draws in the group stages. They dominated most of their games but were not clinical in the final third which cost them. The manager will be wary of his team's defensive struggles and will have to shore it up when they take on Croatia, who possess some strong offensive players in Mandzukic, Modric and Ivan Perisic.

Portugal lead the head-to-head between the two nations 3-0, but their last meeting was in 2013, which was an international friendly that ended 1-0 in favour of Cristiano Ronaldo and company.

Prediction

  • Portugal to win

Betting odds (betfair)

  • Portugal win: 2
  • Draw: 19/10
  • Croatia win: 13/8

What manager's say

Fernando Santos (Portugal): Stats mean nothing. There are two very strong sides. I have as my objective to try and win this game. Croatia have immense quality, just like we do. It will be a game with two sides full of great quality and sides who want to go through. It will be a great game, I'm sure. I think we can beat Croatia.

It will be a totally different game to the ones we've had. Austria did things well against Portugal, and a lot of people thought we'd beat Iceland but it didn't happen. We are prepared to play a completely different game.

Ante Cacic (Croatia): This is a make-or-break kind of match. We are moving into the knockout rounds now and this match will only send one of two excellent teams into the next stage of the competition. The other team will unfortunately be sent home.

We are facing a team consisting of extremely talented individuals. They perhaps weren't exceptionally impressive in their group in terms of points won, but they really played well. If we look back, we will remember that they were the dominant team in their matches and created many opportunities.

I am not content, though, just like the team is not content. We want to keep going for as long as possible at this tournament. After a long time, we finally have this atmosphere of togetherness in Croatia. Everyone is watching our matches on TV, everyone is rooting for us.

Team news

Portugal

Possible XI: Rui Patrício; Vieirinha, Carvalho, Pepe, Guerreiro; William Carvalho, João Moutinho, André Gomes, João Mário; Nani, Ronaldo.

Croatia

Possible XI: Subašić; Srna, Ćorluka, Vida, Strinić; Modrić, Badelj; Brozović, Rakitić, Perišić; Mandžukić.

Euro 2016 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid