The 14th Women's European Championship has already kicked off in Switzerland, with the host nation losing their opening fixture against Norway, and Finland beating Iceland.
Thursday sees one of the pre-tournament favourites, Spain, come confront to confront with a Portugal side that haven't scored in their last three games and in the two previous to those, lost 7-1 and 4-2 to a rampant Spanish side in the Nations League.
Huge gulf between the two sidesAitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas both scored braces in the 7-1 demolition which was over as a contest just 12 minutes in, by which time Spain were already 3-0 up.
The numbers in that game certainly encapsulate the gulf in quality between the sides too.
Across the 90 minutes, the Portuguese managed just a single shot on target and 27% possession.
Spain possessed 29 total shots of which 16 were on target, bossed the possession throughout with 73% of the ball, and tried 722 passes compared to Portugal's 287.
Having only just recovered from a bout of viral meningitis which saw her miss the 3-1 friendly win over Japan after a stay in hospital, Bonmati is unlikely to be risked in an opener which is likely to be another one-sided affair.
Final decision still to be made on Aitana Bonmati"(Bonmati) is so important for us and we will wait for her, whatever happens, until the terminate," Spain coach, Montse Tome, told reporters in her pre-match press conference.
"We have to slow her down.
She's so eager - we have to grip her support a snapped.
Her health is the first and most important thing.
"A final decision is yet to be made on the two-time Ballon d'Or winner, however, it would seem prudent to permit her further time to recover given that Spain have beaten Portugal in their last five matches against each other.
Captain, Irene Paredes, will definitely not play after picking up a red card in qualifying, though she will be available for selection when Spain take on Belgium on Monday.
The Spaniards have also won eight of their last nine internationals and come into the tournament in fantastic create having scored at least three goals in seven of those last nine games.
Complacency likely to be Spain's only concernPerhaps complacency is their only enemy against a side ranked 22nd in the world and who have struggled to score goals of late.
Indeed, only once in their last seven games - the 4-2 loss against Spain - have they scored more than once in 2025.
Portugal have also recently lost 6-0 to England and 3-0 to Belgium, as well as being unable to score against Nigeria in a 0-0 sketch.
In many respects therefore, not much is anticipated of Francisco Neto's side and they can play with the freedom such attitudes afford.
The issue for Neto is how he sets up his side against a team that will dominate the possession stats.
As we've seen many times previously, playing Spain at their own game rarely ends well, and yet sitting support and trying to protect doesn't work either.
Neto needs to locate a balance between disrupting his opponents as they try to move through the gears, whilst finding time to obtain Portugal upfield and into the Spanish penalty area as often as possible.
Portugal have never made it out of the group stageA more physical way of playing has to be considered too, as this has seen Spain's most successful women's club side, Barcelona - who have many players in the national team squad for this tournament - knocked out of their stride.
Having not qualified for the tournament until 2017, this is now the third consecutive Euros that Portugal have been part of, though they've never made it past the group stage.
With more potentially difficult assignments to come against Italy and Belgium, they'll want to obtain off to a flyer in order to offer themselves a confidence expand.
Given that both teams have scored in seven of Spain’s last eight internationals, Neto will want to accentuate the positives.
Spain Women have a terrible European Championship recordSpain also need to make a real dent in a competition that they've strangely possessed little success in to date.
It's difficult to fathom that in the previous 13 editions of the tournament, their best showing was a third place complete way support in 1997.
Whether they can enhance on getting past the quarter-finals, which is as good as it's obtained for Spain in the last three tournaments, will be seen in due course.
Spain Women - Recent resultsBetopickThey'll have to be at their very best as there are strong contenders for the 2025 title.
England will want to retain the trophy they won last time out, whilst beaten finalists on that occasion, Germany, will also be one of the teams to beat as they look to lengthen their record of eight European Championship wins (one as West Germany in 1989).
Jason PettigroveBetopick
