Switzerland Women will be hoping to get their Women's Euro 2022 campaign off to a positive start when they face Portugal Women at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday.

Both nations are making their second appearance at the European Championships after the two sides made their tournament debuts in 2017.

Match preview

After losing 1-0 on aggregate to Russia in the Euro 2022 qualifying playoff, Portugal's European Championship dreams had dissipated.

However, UEFA banned Russia from participating due to the invasion of Ukraine, which afforded Portugal the chance to compete at the Euros.

Francisco Neto's side will be looking to better their performance from their first major tournament, which saw Portugal exit Euro 2017 at the group stage.

If the side ranked 30th in the world are to make it through to the knockout rounds, then they must battle through a group that contains Sweden, Netherlands, and Switzerland.

They enter the tournament in a rich vein of form after avoiding defeat in their last four matches, with three of those contests ending in victory.

Like their opponents, Switzerland were also involved in the playoffs after finishing behind Belgium in their qualifying group.

After drawing 2-2 on aggregate against the Czech Republic and with no team able to find a winner in extra time, the playoff tie was decided on penalties.

Despite missing their first two spot kicks, Switzerland clinched their place at Euro 2022 by scoring their next three, while Czech Republic could only find the net on two occasions.

Switzerland's next objective will be to reach the knockout stages after being eliminated in the group phase five years ago.

However, their hopes of progressing from the group were dampened by their current winless six-game run, while their two warm-up matches in June resulted in 7-0 and 4-0 defeats to Germany and England respectively.

Team News

Neto gave each of his three goalkeepers playing time in the warm-up games, and the Portugal boss is expected to opt for Ines Pereira, who plies her trade in Switzerland for Servette.

Pereira is set to be protected by a centre-back pairing made up of Diana Gomes and Carole Costa, while Catarina Amado and Joana Marchao are likely to operate as the two full-backs.

Portugal are also expected to operate with a front three, which could feature Francisca Nazareth, Jessica Silva and Ana Borges.

As for Switzerland, they are set to operate with a centre-back pairing of Luana Buhler and Rahel Kiwic.

Lea Walti will captain the side for the tournament, and the Arsenal player will start Saturday's contest in central midfield.

Switzerland will also be looking towards their record goalscorer Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic to pose the main goal threat.

Portugal Women possible starting lineup:
Pereira; Amado, Gomes, Costa, Marchao; Norton, D. Silva, Ferreira; Nazareth, J. Silva, Borges

Switzerland Women possible starting lineup:
Thalmann; Maritz, Callgaris, Buhler, Aigbogun; Maendly, Walti; Crnogorcevic, Sow, Reuteler; Bachmann

We say: Portugal Women 1-2 Switzerland Women

With Saturday's contest representing the tournament opener for both sides, we think that the two teams could be involved in a cagey contest, but with Switzerland 10 places higher than Portugal in the FIFA World Rankings, we believe they will have the extra quality needed to edge out Portugal.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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