France narrowly beat Belgium (1-0) at the end of a tight round of 16 match on Monday in Düsseldorf, and await the winner of the match between Portugal and Slovenia (9:00 p.m.) in which Ronaldo’s teammates are the overwhelming favourites.
Despite Didier Deschamps’ change of system to a diamond midfield, with the return of Antoine Griezmann, a feeling of déjà vu has developed towards a France team that is solid at the back, but not very exciting up front and misses its few chances.
While the 22 players already seemed to be thinking about extra time, it was a shot from the pivot by Randal Kolo Muani, deflected by Jan Verthonghen, which deceived the Belgian defense and the good goalkeeper Koen Casteels (85). The PSG striker, having a complicated season and who had just replaced an ineffective Marcus Thuram, proved his worth in blue once again. “Kolo is Kolo”, exclaimed Didier Deschamps with a smile on TF1 after the match.
The Blues have not yet scored a goal in the game. They are benefiting from a second “own goal” in the competition after the first match against Austria (1-0), a scenario which will not silence the critics of the offensive deficiencies of the team which nevertheless has one of the best strikers in the world in Kylian Mbappé.
He had scored the only other goal on a penalty, against Poland (1-1). On Monday, he was willing but still awkward in the penalty area, probably still not very comfortable with the mask that protects his fractured nose and impairs his vision.
The Belgians, for their part, often let France take control of the game, and their only real regret, apart from the goal conceded, was a too wise shot from their playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, alone at the edge of the area in the last quarter of an hour. Mike Maignan, still impeccable in his goal, was not fooled.
“We played a great match against a good team, it was tight even though we had a lot of possession and chances,” reacted Didier Deschamps. “We must not trivialize, we are in the quarter-finals.”
Portugal and its “old people”
The Red Devils, for their part, will not improve their relationship with their supporters, who had whistled them against Ukraine, after this poor performance. They have only scored two goals, against Romania (2-0), in this Euro-2024.
In the second match, Portugal are the clear favourites against Slovenia, who will play a knockout match in a major competition for the first time in their history. They had been eliminated in the group stage in their previous appearances at the highest international level, the 2002 and 2010 World Cups and Euro 2000.
But Slovenia, who qualified with three draws, like Denmark in their group and like… Portugal when they won Euro 2016, have nothing to lose.
Behind her two strong men, Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak and RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, even if he has not yet scored at the Euro, she dreams of shaking up the hierarchy.
The Portuguese are much better equipped, from the hinge formed by Ruben Dias and the “old” Pepe (41 years old) to Bernardo Silva and Rafael Leao in attack, passing by Bruno Fernandes and the Parisian Vitinha.
But superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is as mute as Lukaku and Griezmann. The immovable captain, 39, has not scored for the first time in three group matches, having played in every major competition since Euro 2004.
In short, to offer a France-Portugal match, with Mbappé against CR7, in the quarter-finals on Friday in Hamburg, Portugal still has everything to do.
Two quarter-finals are already known, Germany-Spain and Switzerland-England. The “Three Lions” gave themselves a big scare against Slovakia on Sunday (2-1 aet), with the magnificent equalizer by Jude Bellingham with an overhead kick in the last minutes.
The “Roja” gave themselves a bit of a scare, led by Georgia before turning the tide with four goals (4-1). Spain has no problem with efficiency.
