The series between the two countries began with a friendly in Lisbon in 1947, when a rampant England team outclassed the home side 10-0.

Legends Tommy Lawton and Stan Mortensen scored four goals each. Then it was Tom (now “Sir Tom”) Finney’s turn to notch four as we won 5-3, again in the Portuguese capital, three years later.

There were three more friendlies after that, including one at Goodison Park in 1951 in which Bill Nicholson, later Tottenham’s Double-winning manager, gave England the lead just thirty seconds into his debut as a right-half. England won that one 5-2 before a 52,000 crowd.

The first competitive matches were qualifiers for the 1962 World Cup to be held in Chile. After a 1-1 draw in the away leg in Lisbon, England triumphed 2-0 at Wembley five months later with Ray Pointer and John Connelly on target.

The famous Wembley meeting in the semi-finals of the ’66 World Cup was thought to be the best match, certainly the most sporting, of the whole competition.

Bobby Charlton scored with two efforts from the edge of the box and the great Eusebio converted a penalty near the end. England were in the World Cup Final!

However a few years later, both the European Championship qualifiers against the Portuguese in 1974/75 ended in a draw and the Three Lions failed to make it to the finals in Yugoslavia.

We lost to a late goal in the opening fixture of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and went down 2-3 in the first match of Euro 2000 in Eindhoven after being 2-0 up in 18 minutes.

The most recent meeting between the two sides was the friendly in February this year when Ledley King's first goal for England was equalised by Pauleta as the game finished in a 1-1 draw.

However, if their record against the Portuguese is good, England should be beware that the hosts of each of the last four European Championships have reached the semi-finals.

England v Portugal - Complete Record

Played 20, Won 9, Drawn 8, Lost 3, For 43, Against 23

Date

Opponents

Venue

Comp

Score

25 May 47

Portugal

Lisbon

F

10-0

14 May 50

Portugal

Lisbon

F

5-3

19 May 51

Portugal

Everton

F

5-2

22 May 55

Portugal

Oporto

F

1-3

07 May 58

Portugal

Wembley

F

2-1

21 May 61

Portugal

Lisbon

WCQ

1-1

25 Oct 61

Portugal

Wembley

WCQ

2-0

17 May 64

Portugal

Lisbon

F

4-3

04 June 64

Portugal

Sao Paulo

F

1-1

26 Jul 66

Portugal

Wembley

WCF

2-1

10 Dec 69

Portugal

Wembley

F

1-0

03 Apr 74

Portugal

Lisbon

F

0-0

20 Nov 74

Portugal

Wembley

ECQ

0-0

19 Nov 75

Portugal

Lisbon

ECQ

1-1

03 June 86

Portugal

Monterrey

WCF

0-1

12 Dec 95

Portugal

Wembley

F

1-1

22 Apr 98

Portugal

Wembley

F

3-0

12 June 00

Portugal

Eindhoven

ECF

2-3

07 Sept 02

Portugal

Villa Park

F

1-1

18 Feb 04

Portugal

Faro-Loule

F

1-1