Solid Spain look set to move through the gears

SPAIN v PORTUGAL

This semi-final in Donetsk looks fascinating.

Spain have basically cruised into the last four without having to get out of second gear. They haven't been hugely impressive but that's only because they are judged by previous high standards and those standards may never be matched.

At the odds, I fancy them to have too much for a Portugal team notorious for trying not to lose these big games rather than trying to win them and Cristiano Ronaldo can still go absent in the massive matches.

Spain defensively have been excellent so far; without fanfare they've kept three successive clean sheets and limited decent attacks to a few scraps. Given that it's not their first-choice defence those are superb stats.

Ronaldo has eclipsed them all in La Liga action this season but the Portuguese supply line is nowhere near as sumptuous as Real Madrid's and the real probability is that Spain step it up a notch and breeze into a third successive major final.

Recommendation

Spain, 1pt