Portugal gets their preparation for Russia 2018 underway with this friendly match against Tunisia who are also headed for the world football showpiece. One player who would be missing this game is Christiano Ronaldo who helped Real Madrid to win their third consecutive Champions League title in Kyiv on Saturday. Going by how important he would be to Portugal in the World Cup, we feel they should have waited a little longer so he can join them. This game offers the Portuguese the chance to give some of their up-and-coming players the chance to impress, however, they risk coming off as a one-man team here and in the competition when it begins if the next generation fails to kick on in this game. They play Morocco in the finals, and they would be hoping Tunisia can help them understand how the North Africans would play. Tunisia would be playing against England and Belgium in Russia and they see this game as one to help them play the Europeans when the competition begins. We expect them to defend deep in this game and that would see the Portuguese struggle as they seem to be very blunt in their attack when C. Ronaldo does not play for them. Ronaldo scored almost half of Portugal’s 32 goals in the qualifiers with 15, he and Andre Silva netted a combined 25 goals for the European champions. Silva, however, would struggle to lead the attack without Ronaldo after coming into this summer off the back of a poor first season in Milan.

This match pits South Korea together with Honduras who nearly qualified for the World Cup before falling to defeat at the hands of Australia in the playoffs. The South Koreans have suffered some dip in form since they secured qualification for the World Cup. Would they get back to winning ways here ahead of their next three other warm-up games or would Honduras get revenge over an Asian country? The hosts find themselves in one of the toughest World Cup groups that include Germany, Sweden and Mexico. They have a chance of making it to the knockout rounds, but they have to pick up some form as they seem to have been on holiday mood for a while now. They secured World cup qualification since September last year with two goalless draws in their last two matches. However, they have struggled to defend in their friendlies so far as they have conceded 14 goals in their last six friendlies beginning with a 4-2 loss against Russia and ending in a 3-2 loss to Poland, they know they need to up their game if they want to survive their World Cup group. Honduras would be stepping into the field of play for the first time since their 3-1 loss to Australia in the playoffs in November. This match would see them come up against a team competing in the World Cup, but they would be confident that they can stretch the Koreans’ run of games without keeping a clean sheet having conceded in their last six games already.

Having ended the 2016 and 2017 season as league champions, it must have hurt really bad for Copenhagen to see themselves in fourth position this season. In truth, they never really threatened the top two teams, but this game offers them the chance to finish the season in a European place. If Copenhagen can beat this Aarhus side that finished the season in the tenth position, they can finish in a Europa League spot. Judging by how easily they have dispatched teams on their home turf this season, that shouldn’t be too much to ask of them. Aarhus come into this game still struggling defensively like they did when both sides met the last time, and they would need to be better than they have been in recent weeks to get a result in this game. The last time they visited this venue, they conceded 4 times. The hosts, who come here having conceded at least once in all but one of their last ten matches, have been by no means secure defensively this season, so the visitors, who have scored plenty of goals recently, won’t hesitate to have a go. Profiting offensively may not be beyond Aarhus, though keeping things tight at the back is likely to be a step too far, especially since they’ve struggled to hold off lesser opposition in recent weeks.

Although this game is worth the excess of £160 million to the winners, the fans of these teams would be less interested in the money than they are in their team getting back into the Premier League after two years and four years absence for Villa and Fulham respectively. Villa is the most popular club here, and these two teams may have to deal with losing most of their star players this summer if they fail to make the step up following this playoff final. However, Fulham are the form favourite after going unbeaten from December to May before falling to a final day defeat that denied them automatic qualification, they had been 23 games unbeaten at that time. Villa would be delighted that Fulham failed just when it matters, and their manager’s tactical success over Tony Pulis in the Playoff semifinals would have boosted their confidence that they can outplay their opponents in this game. Villa’s win may be decided on how well they can nullify the threat of Ryan Sessegnon and they may call on Allan Hutton here again after his excellent man-marking job on Adama Traore in the last round. Aleksandar Mitrovic is another player that Villa would have to worry about especially as Fulham can now play the ball to either his feet or cross from out wide. Fulham struggled against Derby County in the last round, and Villa are certainly a better opposition to them and this game could be headed for an unlikely stalemate here after 90 minutes. Since Villa dropped out of the top flight, all four Championship meetings between these clubs have produced home wins. Villa have actually lost their last four games against Fulham in London but clearly, all of those games were at Craven Cottage rather than the neutral turf of Wembley.

This game offers Real Madrid the chance to further cement their place in history as the most successful team in Champions League history. This game is the 16th time they have appeared in the competition’s final, 12 of which have ended in wins for them. However, they face a Liverpool side that is one team that can upset the odds at the slightest opportunity and a thrilling final is definitely on here. Madrid came from two goals up to draw their last competitive game before this match. That was the 5th time they have failed to win a game in their last six competitive outings, one of which was their 2-2draw against Bayern Munich in their last Champions League game. They have now conceded at least two goals in four of their last five games and have kept a clean sheet in just one of their last 11 matches in all competitions. The question they would be asking of themselves is how can they stop the Liverpool trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino who have found the back of the net for a combined 31 times in this competition this season? Liverpool also do not have the best defence in the world right now as they have conceded 9 goals in their last 6 competitive games. They also have just two wins from their last six competitive games and allowed AS Roma to score them four goals in their last Champions League game. Liverpool and Real Madrid have scored a combined 70 goals in the Champions League this season, and the Liverpool front three in combination with Cristiano Ronaldo have scored 46 goals already. This game could turn out to be a goal fest. These teams have met twice in the Champions League before now and they both have two wins from the four matches.