Euro 2012 predictions - Portugal 2/2

In our previous article (which you can find here), we covered the Portuguese defense. Now we take a look at their midfield and attack, arguably the best parts of the team, and give you the key players that will need to play at their best in order for Portugal to really shine.

Key Men: Midfield

Nani (Man Utd) 52 caps, 12 goals. Nani is a right winger with pace and skill. He is a very direct player who creates a lot of offensive chances, and has a good goalscoring record too.

Rail Meireles (Chelsea) 56 caps, 8 goals. Meireles started out as defensive midfielder, but gradually moved forward as his offensive talents where recognised. He is great at short passing and has good movement, with great knack of arriving late into the box.

João Moutinho (Porto) 40 caps,2 goals. This is a flexible midfielder that can occupy many positions accross the middle. Moutinho has a very good passing range and good awareness, he also has good movement and a great touch.

Midfield analysis: Portugal have loads of options in midfield, and some great wingers in Nani and Quaresma. They have excellent passing qualities in Meireles and Moutinho, and if needed Pepe can fill in as a defensive midfielder. Overall - this is a strong midfield with creativity, we believe they will create a lot, but downside is still that, Ronaldo apart, the forward line is lacking.

Key Men: Forwards

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 89 caps,32 goals. Best player in the world? Perhaps - what is without question is that Ronaldo is a strong, athletic player with incredible pace. His dribbling skills and technique is unmatched in Europe. He is a fantastic goalscorer and brilliant from free kicks, and will without doubt be the key man for Portugal.

Helder Postiga (Zaragoza) 48 caps ,19 goals. Postiga is a player of undoubted quality, but he hasn't really taken of in his career. He has had several unsuccessful transfers without settling properly. His greatest strenghts are his good technique and touch and a good link up play.

Hugo Almeida (Besiktas). This is a strong and powerful forward with good ball control. He is adept at playing lone striker, and has a good goalscoring record this season.

Forward analysis: Everything rests on the shoulders of Cristiano Ronaldo. His support strikers are not at the best level so it will undoubtably fall to him. Ronaldo is absolutely lethal anywhere within 30 metres of the goal, and the outcome of his free kicks will be especially important.

Betting analysis

Portugal will have great difficulty getting out the group, as it is indeed a very very tough group. Germany and Netherlands are strongly fancied to take the top two spots (you get 2.10 Ladbrokes). Odds 1.67 from Paddy Power on Portugal not qualifying looks good value seeing as Denmark finished above them in qualifying.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the one hope they have. Goals will be tight and Nani only scored 1 less than Ronaldo in getting Portugal to the finals, yet you can still back him at 10.0 to be top Portugal scorer. We belive that the Denmark game is simply a must-win match and Portugal will get a bit of revenge with 3 points here, and you get Even odds with Betfair on Portugal beating Denmark.