After Portugal’s Joao Felix hit the post in the shootout after a 0-0 draw, Theo Hernandez scored the winning penalty to send Didier Deschamps’ France through to the Euro 2024 semi-finals against Spain.
Cristiano Ronaldo, overcome with emotion during Portugal’s last-16 win over Slovenia, did not shed tears this time but, despite scoring a penalty himself, the 39-year-old ended up on the losing side in his final Euros and could only console his talented 41-year-old team-mate Pepe.
Ronaldo was in front of goal for much of this tense match but both teams will feel they could have won at the second half in normal time. France’s Mike Maignan made two sharp saves from Bruno Fernandes and Vitinha before denying Ronaldo a backheel pass, while Randall Kolo Muani’s shot was blocked by Ruben Dias at the other end before Eduardo Camavinga smashed it wide of the far post from close range.
Impact substitute Ousmane Dembele struck the post just before the 90th minute but the two recent European champions remained cautious in extra time, with Ronaldo’s chances being thwarted by what appeared to be goal blocks from Pepe and Dayot Upamecano.
The big story of the extra time was Kylian Mbappe, who was taken off at half-time after suffering a facial blow early in the game. Wearing a mask and nursing a broken nose, the France star must have been in too much pain to leave the pitch before the penalty shootout, but his compatriot scored a perfect shot from 12 yards.
The only miss came from Joao Felix, who hit the post with a shot, but it gave Hernandez the chance to send France into the last four and set up a showdown with Spain in Munich on Tuesday.
Ronaldo took centre stage again – but was this a curtain call?
Cristiano Ronaldo takes on Theo Hernandez
Even with superstar Kylian Mbappé on the pitch, all the attention was on Cristiano Ronaldo, and his penalty kick in the shootout epitomised the theatrics that surrounded him: the dramatic, breathtaking movement, the stumbling run-up and the jubilant celebration after scoring a stunning strike.
But while he may have played a part in Portugal’s two penalty shootout appearances in the final stages of this Euros, his contributions during regular play were less convincing, as he was isolated here and missed opportunities when they arose.
Portugal lacked cohesion at the back and Gonzalo Ramos and Diogo Jota, who famously started in place of Ronaldo at the World Cup and scored a hat-trick, sat on the bench, perhaps wondering when they would be available, but Roberto Martinez’s calls for them never materialised.
The Portugal coach stuck by Ronaldo until the end, and it will probably be the last time we see him in a major tournament, his final Euros without him scoring a goal and signaling, at least for those outside the Portuguese team, that it was time to move on to the next generation.
It didn’t look good, but France found a breakthrough
Kylian Mbappe takes aim against Portugal
So it’s not just English fans who are lamenting England’s lack of exciting football in this championship – French fans will surely feel the same way, as incredibly France reached the semi-finals without scoring a single goal from open play.
Against Portugal there was little hope of ending the strange scoreless streak.
Didier Deschamps’ side were passive, allowing Portugal to dominate the ball for long periods of time, and when they did win possession in the opposition’s half, their attacking prowess, so devastating in the past, was largely disjointed. Star man Kylian Mbappe was clearly not in good form – his substitution midway through extra time was testament to that – but there seemed to be a lack of determination or eagerness from his team-mates to step up to the challenge.
Ousmane Dembele has at least shown the necessary firepower when coming off the bench and is a sure bet to start against Spain, and France will undoubtedly need a burst of energy down the back at some point in the tournament if they are to reclaim their European crown.
Chuameni: We don’t care if it’s not worth experiencing.
France Midfielder Aurélien Chouameni“I don’t care if we deserved the win or not. I want to savor this win. It’s true that not everything was perfect offensively or defensively.”
“We can lose, obviously, but we’re not going to be picky. We’re in the semi-finals. [against Spain]Everyone has a say. Journalists, do your job.”
Pepe: It’s hard to lose like that. We should have won more.
Portugal Defender Pepe Said record: “It’s tough to lose like this. It’s hard to put into words what we did. We deserved a different result after what we did, but that’s football. Four days ago I was happy with the penalty shootout and now I’m sad. We played smart with the system we had, but that’s football.”
“We played two games against Slovenia and Czech Republic and they play with a low block and it’s difficult to play against these teams. We tried to give them width. Today we will be more open with a different rhythm, just like Turkey, who wanted to play open against us.”
“I wanted to stay in this tournament. The hugs mean a lot… now is not the right time. [to talk] “It’s very painful and we will have a chance to talk about it later. We will have time to talk about our future. We have to overcome this great pain. We had the strength to win the competition. Now we have to hold our heads up.”
