Drama of the night: France reached the semi-finals against Portugal after penalties

In the end, no goals were scored in extra time either, and the battle of nerves was won by the French, who lost the World Cup final under similar circumstances. For the Portuguese, who advanced from the round of 11 with 11, Joao Felix’s mistake, which hit the post, resulted in the elimination.

In the first ten minutes, the Portuguese mostly had the ball, but this was exhausted at the back in the undisturbed passing, the goals were not at all in danger. Later on, the match became even in terms of possession, and the sides even tried to shoot, but the second quarter-final took place in a much more cautious manner than the previous Spanish-German duel.

For the Portuguese, only Rafael Leao was able to cause confusion on the left wing, so the World Cup silver medalist French team gradually took control, exerted pressure on the Portuguese defense, which stood the ground, at one time the corrector of the history of the European Championships, Pepe, also saved the last moment. In the minutes before the break, the game took place between the two penalty areas and the fight dominated in this period.

At first, the cautious football with the slightly more dangerous French remained to be continued, but they did not have any serious situations either. What’s more, in the 61st and 62nd minutes, the rival almost took the lead, first Bruno Fernandes’ 12-meter attempt was saved by Maignan, and immediately following that, Cancelo hit the French goalkeeper in a dribble. From there, the match became livelier, the next shot came in front of Kolo Muani and Camavinga, but the former’s excellent shot from the last-minute blocking Portuguese defender barely hit the right corner, while the latter missed the target by inches from five meters.

Dembele, who came on as a substitute, gave the French team a new impetus, the PSG attacker on one occasion curled beautifully towards the upper right corner, but the ball slipped past the post. The last quarter of an hour of regular time brought balanced football, the defenses and the goalkeepers stood the ground, so the ninety minutes did not bring a goal or a decision.

The extra time started at a pulsating pace, the first big chance was in front of Cristiano Ronaldo, but he shot badly over the top, and following Dembele’s full-court solo, Thuram’s shot was stepped in by the tireless Pepe, even at the age of 41. Although the teams did not “sit on” the tie, signs of fatigue were already showing on the players, who regularly made mistakes in the last key passes. In the extra time, there was no shot on goal until the 120th minute, but then Nuno Mendes might shoot cleanly, but his attempt was weak, so Maignan must have caught it.

In the battle of nerves, none of the five kickers of the French team made a mistake, while Joao Felix hit the right post of the rival, so this decided the balanced duel.

The French will face the last semi-finalist Spanish team in Tuesday’s semi-final in Munich.

Joao Felix made a mistake at the worst time.

Photo: AFP

Result, quarter final:

• France-Portugal 0-0 – with 11: 5-3
• Hamburg, Volksparkstadion, 47,789 spectators, v.: Michael Oliver (English)
• yellow card: Saliba (84th) and Palhinha (79th)