Portugal vs. Spain Start Time: Where and When to Watch the Battle of Real Stars

The premiere matchup—or at least, the premiere matchup so far—of Euro 2012 has arrived, and on Wednesday afternoon, Spain and Portugal will battle it out for the right to move on to the finals.

The battle begins at 2:45 p.m. ET, and you don't have to miss a second of it, no matter where you are. It will be televised on ESPN, and if you're not at your TV, you can watch all the action online on ESPN3.

The winner of Wednesday's all-important matchup will likely come down to which Real Madrid star plays his best: Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo or Spain's Iker Casillas, both of whom have been instrumental to their national teams' successes thus far.

Though Ronaldo got off to a bit of a slow start at Euro 2012 in Portugal's opener versus Germany, he's rebounded in a big way, tallying three goals since then in wins over Denmark, Holland and the Czech Republic. His game-winner in the quarterfinals against the Czechs was perhaps his biggest moment of the tournament. His diving header at 79 minutes was all Portugal needed to advance. 

Ronaldo has proven to be the difference-maker for Portugal—his style, his demeanor and his intensity have carried this team to the semifinals, and he'll need to channel that aggression into his best game of the tournament in order to take down defending-champion Spain.

Meanwhile, his Real Madrid teammate has been unshakable in net for Spain, carrying his side to three consecutive shutout wins after surrendering his only goal of the tournament in Spain's opener versus Italy.

With a win on Wednesday, Saint Iker will make history, becoming the first player to tally 100 victories in international football. As Ronaldo's Real Madrid teammate, he knows exactly what kind of heroics the Portuguese star is capable of, but he also is so familiar with Ronaldo's play that he might be the most capable of thwarting him.

If Ronaldo manages to score—even once—on Casillas, that might be all it takes for Portugal to stop Spain from winning its second straight Euro and its third straight major international tournament.

But if Casillas continues to do what he's done for the last three games, Portugal's—and Ronaldo's—journey is over.