Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal
Portugal skipper Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring Reuters

Portugal host Belgium in an international friendly on Tuesday (29 March) in a game which was previously supposed to take place in Brussels but had to be re-scheduled following the recent terror attacks. A host of Belgians have already pulled themselves out of contention for selection leaving manager Marc Wilmots with only a fraction of players to work with.

Where to watch

Kick-off is set for 7:45pm BST. The match will not be telecast live in the UK. Catch live updates of the game on the BBC website.

Overview

Portugal will be coming into the game trying to prove a point after their shocking 1-0 loss to Bulgaria in the first of the double header friendlies scheduled for the international break. Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty to put Portugal level and the Real Madrid man may be rested for the game in anticipation of the El Classico against Barcelona scheduled for the weekend after the game.

Centre-back Ricardo Carvalho is expected to miss out with flu but otherwise manager Fernando Santos has a full team to choose from. The manager will be looking to take advantage of Belgium's lack of resources for the game to gain an advantage and take forward into the Euros. Portugal have been pitted against Iceland, Austria and Hungary in the group stages.

Meanwhile, for Belgium the game could not have come at a worse time given the incidents surrounding the event. Christian Benteke, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Divock Origi and Jan Vertonghen have all withdrawn and recently been joined by Yannick Ferreira Carrasco to have his name terminated from the fixture.

Dries Mertens and Mousa Dembele are also unlikely to feature after picking up a knock and Wilmots believes that he needs to dig deep into his resources to come out with a solution.

What manager say

Marc Wilmots: "There are injured players and some players who are maybe only 50% fit, so it requires some adjustment. But I will start with the best possible arrangement. From this match we might not be able to learn a lot, but it will be an interesting game and it is the opportunity for some other players to show themselves. It remains to be seen whether the Portuguese coach [Fernando Santos] is undertaking a lot of changes and whether Cristiano Ronaldo plays a lot. He played on Friday for 90 minutes and this weekend he has with Real in the Clasico visiting Barcelona. For us, it changes little, however, we play the same way."

Betting odds (betfair)

  • Portugal Win: 2.25
  • Draw: 3.1
  • Belgium Win: 3.1