Having made a real mess out of their qualifying campaign, Portugal desperately need to beat group leaders Russia in order to revive their World Cup bid.

Their opponents are under no pressure at the moment and they are hoping to keep the 100% record in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

Portugal seemed to have returned to the right track with an impressive showing at the Euro 2012, when they narrowly missed out on a place in the final.

The Seleccao were, therefore, tipped to secure easy passage into the 2014 World Cup, but it was simply not to be.

The narrow defeat in Russia wouldn’t have been so costly if Portugal had done better in other group games, but having also dropped points against Northern Ireland and Israel, Paulo Bento’s side find themselves in all sorts of problems.

The away victory over Azerbaijan did improve the atmosphere in the squad, but the triumph won’t mean much unless the Seleccao can defeat Russia on Friday.

Portugal are 1.91 (10/11) with Coral to get revenge on Fabio Capello’s side, with Cristiano Ronaldo 1.83 (5/6) at Paddy Power to get on the scoresheet in the process.

Real Madrid defender Pepe misses out through suspension, but Paulo Bento has no other injury worries at the moment.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Patricio – Pereira, Alves, R. Costa, Coentrao – Moutinho, Veloso, Meireles – Nani, Postiga, Ronaldo.

Despite enjoying a bright start to the Euro 2012, Russia ended up disappointing their fans as they crashed out of the competition in group stage following the unexpected defeat to Greece.

As a result, Fabio Capello was brought to replace Dick Advocaat and that quickly proved to be a great decision.

The Italian tactician led his side to four straight victories in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, with the team keeping four clean sheets in the process.

Having also done pretty well in three international friendlies, Russia arrive in Portugal brimming with confidence, with away win paying 4.75 (15/4) at BetVictor.

Fabio Capello has some selection problems as Aleksandr Kokorin has been ruled out through injury, while Alexander Anyukov is a major doubt with a knee problem.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Akinfeev – Nababkin, V. Berezutski, Ignashevich, D. Kombarov – Shirokov, Denisov, Faizulin – Bystrov, Kerzhakov, Samedov.

Unbeatable FREE BET Package!

888Sports have just taken free bet promotions to another level! New customers can now get  £/€/88 in Free Bets + 20 Free Spin Spins + Up to 5 “No Lose Bet”. All you need to do is place of at least £/€/$10 with 888Sports to get up to  £/€/$88 in Free Bets + 20 Free Casino Spins for City Life Slot. And also, make a first mobile bet of at least £/€/$1 with minimum odds of 1.5 to get up to £/€/$5 “No lose Bet” on Mobile.

Get Your £88 in Free Bets!