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Preview: Portugal v Austria

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to become Portugal's record appearance maker on Saturday, but coach Fernando Santos is far more concerned about an Austria side ranked in the world's top ten.

Preview: Portugal v Austria
Preview: Portugal v Austria ©UEFA.com
  • Both sides look to kick-start bids after Portugal held 1-1 by Iceland and Austria lost 2-0 to Hungary
  • Cristiano Ronaldo poised to win record-breaking 128th cap for Portugal
  • Austria forced to make two changes with Aleksandar Dragović banned and Zlatko Junuzović injured
  • Match takes place in Paris, home to significant Portuguese community
  • Also in Group F: Iceland v Hungary (18:00CET on Saturday, Marseille)

Possible line-ups
Portugal: Rui Patrício; Vieirinha, Carvalho, Pepe, Guerreiro; André Gomes, Danilo, João Moutinho, Quaresma; Nani, Ronaldo.

Austria: Almer; Klein, Prödl, Hinteregger, Fuchs; Alaba, Baumgartlinger; Harnik, Sabitzer, Arnautović; Janko.
Out: Junuzović (ankle), Dragović (suspended)

Fernando Santos, Portugal coach
Austria are a very strong team. It's not for nothing that they're in the top ten in the FIFA rankings. Over the last four or five years they have developed and the personnel has mainly stayed the same. They're strong in attack and have many players with great qualities and technical ability. They are very different to Iceland.

Fernando Santos abjectly fails to hide his mild distain
Fernando Santos abjectly fails to hide his mild distain©Panoramic

David Alaba, [Marko] Arnautović, [Marc] Janko, [Martin] Harnik ... They are all top-quality players. [Zlatko] Junuzović too. Austria are a team full of quality players who want the ball and know how to play. There is no need to pay special attention to any one player – we must pay special attention to the entire Austria squad.

We did some good things against Iceland. We have to magnify them even more now, and improve on the things we didn't do so well.

Marcel Koller, Austria coach
We have to play differently to how we did in the defeat by Hungary. We've analysed it and tried to learn from it, but we need to be more clinical with our chances, play more calmly and be more compact defensively. It's the little things that decide games at this level, and you have to do these little things better than your opponents.

We know that Portugal aren't just Cristiano Ronaldo. They have outstanding footballers who are strong individually, can play well in one-on-ones and can decide a game. Ronaldo is chief among them, but it's important to defend as a team.

Watch all of Ronaldo’s EURO goals

Team reporters
Joseph Walker, Portugal (@UEFAcomJoeW)
After not getting the result they wanted against Iceland, Santos knows only three points will do against Austria. He has a couple of big calls to make, with Ricardo Quarema and Renato Sanches both pushing for a starting berth after impressive cameos. With a huge Portuguese community in Paris, the atmosphere should be electric and they will be hoping to see their side claim a first win at UEFA EURO 2016.

Daniel Thacker, Austria (@UEFAcomDanielT)
Austria approach this crunch Group F clash with more questions than answers. Alessandro Schöpf and Marcel Sabitzer are still battling it out to replace the injured Junuzović in attacking midfield, while Sebastian Prödl looks to have the edge over Kevin Wimmer in the race to start at centre-back in place of the suspended Aleksandar Dragović.

Form guide (all games, most recent first)
Portugal: DWLWWLWLWW
Austria: LLWLWLWWWW

Did you know?
Ronaldo is set to overtake Luís Figo as Portugal's most-capped player should he make his 128th appearance. Find out more in our extensive match background.

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