Another Cristiano Ronaldo show, Portugal face Slovakia with this starting lineup

The Euro 2024 qualifiers are reaching their decisive stage. During this October international break, many teams will surely get their ticket to the tournament to be played in Germany next summer. This is because there will only be two more matches left in November and some teams will have a big advantage over their rivals.

Portugal may be one of them. Roberto Martinez's team leads the Group J standings with 18 points. They have won all 6 matches they have played and are 5 points ahead of Slovakia, who are second and for now are also in the qualification zone. They will be their opponents this Friday at the Estadio Do Bragao.

If the hosts get a win, they will increase their lead to 8 points, with only 9 points left to play for. Therefore, next Monday they could secure qualification to Euro 2024 in the match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Coach Roberto Martinez knows that it is very important to beat Slovakia this Friday and that is why he decided that most of the stars of the squad will be in the starting lineup. Portugal's XI will be: Diogo Costa; Albuquerque Tavares Silva, Diogo Dalot, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo; Bernardo Silva, Joao Palinha, Bruno Fernandes; Goncalo Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Leao. In addition, the substitutes will be Jose Sa, Rui Patricio, Nelson Semedo, Goncalo Inacio, Danilo Pereira, Vitor Machado, Otavinho, Ruben Neves, Joao Neves, Joao Felix, Pedro Neto and Diogo Jota.

For them also in a key match

Slovakia know that Portugal are their strongest rivals, but they will still try to get at least a draw to prevent Luxembourg from catching them in the standings. For now they are 3 points ahead in the standings, but that could change this Friday. Coach Francesco Calzona decided that the starting lineup will be: Martin Dubravka; Peter Pekarik, Denis Vavro, Milan Skriniar, David Hancko; Juraj Kucka, Stanislav Lobotka, Ondrej Duda; Ivan Schranz, Roberto Bozenik, Robert Mak.