Portugal vs Switzerland confirmed starting lineups for the Round of 16 game | Cristiano Ronaldo benched!
With Switzerland coming out of the group via a thriller, and Portugal reeling from a shocker, we look at what teams they will field in the knockouts
No matter how you feel about the World Cup being in Qatar, you have to admit that this has been one of the more exciting and script-flipping events in recent history. While it is not likely to have much effect on the final, the road all along the way is littered with surprise knockouts.
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Portugal vs Switzerland: What to know
Headed into the festivities, neither of these teams expected to be in the spot they find themselves in now. Portugal may have finished top of Group H, but it was in a way that they never expected. With Uruguay expected to provide their stiffest competition, nobody foresaw A Seleção to be sent reeling by a 2-1 loss to South Korea in their final match.
Equally, the teams expected to come out of the fray in Group G were Brazil on top and Serbia just behind them. Switzerland managed to pull out a 3-2 thriller for their final match against the Serbs to claim that runner-up spot.
Their star may be on the rise, and Switzerland may have caught the Portuguese temporarily on the back foot, but it is still a tough ask to see the Swiss repeating that performance in the knockout stage.
Portugal Team News
Part of the reason for the shocker against South Korea was the fact that manager Fernando Santos rotated a few players around in his squad. The idea was to rest the best, and now with Portugal set to return to full strength, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, and Ruben Dias will get the call to start.
Portugal confirmed lineup vs Switzerland
Portugal Starting 11 (4-3-3):
- GK Diogo Costa
- RB Diogo Dalot
- CB Pepe
- CB Ruben Dias
- LB Raphael Guerreiro
- CM Bernardo Silva
- CM Otavio
- CM William Carvalho
- RW Bruno Fernandes
- ST Goncalo Ramos
- LW Joao Felix
Portugal Bench
CRISTIANO RONALDO, Jose Sa, Rui Patricio,Joao Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Antonio Silva, Nuno Mendes, William, Joao Palhinha, Vitinha, Ruben Neves, Matheus Nunes, Joao Mario, Rafael Leao, Ricardo Horta, Andre Silva,
Switzerland team news
Yann Sommer and Nico Elvedi missed the final group game against Serbia due to illness, but are reported to be fit and ready to get back into the fray.
Switzerland confirmed lineup vs Portugal
Switzerland Starting 11 (4-2-3-1)
- GK Yann Sommer
- Edimilson Fernandes
- Fabian Schar
- Manuel Akanji
- Ricardo Rodriguez
- Granit Xhaka
- Remo Freuler
- Xherdan Shaqiri
- Djibril Sow
- Ruben Vargas
- Breel Embolo
Switzerland Bench
Gregor Kobel, Jonas Omlin, Philipp Kohn, Eray Comert, Silvan Widmer, Michel Aebischer, Renato Steffen, Denis Zakaria, Fabian Frei, Noah Okafor, Fabian Rieder, Ardon Jashari, Haris Seferovic, Christian Fassnacht, Nico Elvedi