Portugal U21 vs France U21 Prediction: French stars can win opener

Two of the favourites to win the  Uefa European U21 Championship meet on matchday one as Portugal U21 take on France U21 in Trencin (20:00). Georgia and Poland are also in this tough-looking Group C, but there is no doubt that these two giants are expected to finish as the top two, and qualify for the knockout stages. 

Below you can find my Portugal U21 vs France U21 predictions featuring team news and betting tips. 

Team News

Portugal unsurprisingly have a lot of talent in their young squad, with Benfica’s Henrique Araujo likely to captain the side, and lead the line. Unfortunately, they are without talisman Fabio Silva, who had to withdraw from injury at the start of the month and his goals will be missed.

Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes and Wolves’ Rodrigo Gomes are both included and should feature, with Benfica’s Samuel Soares the most experienced goalkeeper in the pack. Surprisingly, there are only three teenagers in this Portugal squad - Sporting duo Joao Muniz and Geovany Quenda, and Braga’s Roger Fernandes.

Mathys Tel, who was recently on loan at Tottenham from Bayern Munich, will play up front for France, with permanent Spurs player Wilson Odobert also included. They are the only Premier League representatives in the squad, and a whole load of young French stars have been omitted due to other commitments. 

Desire Doue, Eduardo Camavinga, Warren Zaire-Emery, Rayan Cherki, Leny Yoro and Malo Gusto are all eligible but not included, as France once again look to blood another generation of superstars. Lucien Agoume is an exciting talent while Castello Lukeba has plenty of experience in defence with RB Leipzig, so France are going to be strong contenders. 

Portugal U21 vs France U21 Odds 

Portugal U21 are priced at 7/4 to win this game, while France U21 are 7/5. That gives the French an implied win probability of 42%  as they look to win this competition for the first time since 1988. 

A draw can be backed at 23/10, over 2.5 goals is 4/6 and BTTS is 4/7 for this exciting opener. Tel is the favourite to score first at 5/1.

France U21 to win @ 7/5

France U21 are my selection to win this group, so I’m going to back them to win this opener fairly comfortably. I believe their attacking quality will just make the difference and they have plenty of that in the form of Tel and Odobert in particular. 

In March, they put in two fantastic performances as they dismantled current U21 European champions England 5-3, before hammering host nation Slovakia 4-0 away from home. Nine goals in two games is impressive, and so I think they can pick up where they left off and secure another victory. 

Fabio Silva is a major loss for Portugal and his absence should also be taken into consideration, as he has scored 14 goals in 26 U21 appearances. They will have to find solutions without him, and I’m not sure that will happen against a strong French outfit. 

Over 2.5 away goals @ 7/2 

I just touched upon the strength of this French attack, and I think they can enjoy themselves again here. Nine goals in two games is impressive, but they’ve scored at least two goals in their last seven outings, which shows their consistency over a fair amount of time. 

Meanwhile, Portugal have lost their last two games to England and Romania, while they also drew 3-3 with Ukraine recently, so their defence is perhaps not as solid as they would hope heading into the tournament. I’ll back at least three France goals in this one at a big price. 

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