The match: 1-0
France and Belgium were not the most spectacular teams in the group stage, far from it, and this Euro round of 16 reflected their limitations and the ambitions of two blocs obsessed above all with solidity. The seventy-sixth confrontation between the two nations was therefore not the most exciting in this long history, but this episode will fuel a little more the rivalry and frustration of the Belgians, once again defeated in the cruelest of ways, on an own goal by Jan Vertonghen, who deflected a cross from Randal Kolo Muani (85th).
Here are the Blues in the quarter-finals of the Euro, against Portugal or Slovenia who will face each other tonight, and they will have suffered enormously to get there, against the Red Devils who had not come to Düsseldorf to take the slightest risk. They were still the first to be dangerous, with a free kick from Kevin De Bruyne whose trajectory surprised Maignan, who was forced to clear the ball with his foot on his line (24th). The rare thrills then came from the French, with a header from Marcus Thuram not far from the top corner, receiving a beautiful cross from Jules Koundé (34th), and a strike from Aurélien Tchouaméni above after a lot of work from Kylian Mbappé in the area (45th + 1).
Only one shot on target from nine attempts, in this case a too soft shot from Antoine Griezmann (10th), the record was depressing at half-time but the second half started better thanks to Tchouaméni, who finally gave Casteels some work, forced to lie down to deflect his shot for a corner (49th). The Belgian goalkeeper also saw shots from Mbappé (54th, 78th), Tchouaméni (69th) go over, and it was Maignan who had to shine to push away a powerful shot from Lukaku (71st).
It was tense, it was tense, and the exit of the disappointing Marcus Thuram in favor of Kolo Muani (62nd) did not transcend the Blues, again saved by Maignan, solid against a missile from De Bruyne (83rd). Two minutes later, the light finally came and the relief matched the boredom, quite immense.
Didier Deschamps cares about Randal Kolo Muani, who is not yet having the best season of his life with Paris-SG, and he chose him to take over from Marcus Thuram (62nd). Preferred over Olivier Giroud who didn’t even warm up, the former Nantes player didn’t have many opportunities to shine but it was his cross, deflected into the goal by Verthongen (85th), which changed everything . The sole replacement of Deschamps therefore ended up weighing, and the smile of Kolo Muani comes to liven up an offensive sector which inspires few positive feelings.
0
Belgium have not won any of their five matches played against France in major tournaments (World Cup and Euro).
