Portugal will look to retain the Nations League title and add to their third triumph in the collection as they begin their defence against Craig Bellamy's Wales side, who missed out on the World Cup in the summer.
Roberto Martinez's time as Portugal manager ended over the summer, with the Spaniard failing to make any progress with the Portuguese national side, similar to how his time at Belgium ended. Martinez's replacement is Jorge Jesus, who won three league titles with Benfica and, more importantly, helped Cristiano Ronaldo win the league title with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia. Ronaldo's international future has been debated, but the arrival of his former club manager has persuaded the 41-year-old to continue with the national side.
Craig Bellamy's future was also in doubt following Wales' unsuccessful attempt to reach the World Cup in the summer. The Dragons were beaten on penalties by eventual participants Bosnia & Herzegovina, and since that game Wales haven't exactly improved their form. The visitors to Portugal, have gone winless in three games since the penalty shootout defeat with two draws against Ghana (1-1) and Northern Ireland (1-1) and a defeat to Romania (2-1).
These two sides last met in the semi-finals of the European Championships in 2016, with Portugal advancing to win the competition.
As mentioned, a lot of the talk will be around Cristiano Ronaldo and his ability to keep going on the international stage. Suggestions throughout the World Cup were that Ronaldo was holding the team back with his lack of mobility up front, but that finding a system around the Al-Nassr forward would allow him to still be effective. Ronaldo has scored 146 goals in 233 appearances for Portugal.
Portugal's squad quality should be enough for the win here and with a clean sheet to add.
Portugal 2-0 Wales
