EURO 2024: Round of 16 – Day 3
The Penalty Shootout Lottery Saved Portugal Against Slovenia in a Crazy Match Remembered for Ronaldo’s Numerous Misses.
A New Own Goal Helped France in a Grandmaster Battle with Belgium
France qualified for the Euro 2024 quarter-finals after a narrow 1-0 victory over Belgium. Didier Deschamps’ team took 20 shots and sought the win more actively but failed to score from open play. The match was decided by Jan Vertonghen’s own goal in the 85th minute.
Up to that point, “Les Bleus” had scored two goals in Germany, the first also an own goal and the second from a penalty.
The Belgians defended more but also had their chances, with Mike Maignan making three crucial saves.
The two teams face each other extremely often, and this was their 76th clash. However, only one of these matches was in a European Championship final. That happened 40 years ago in the group stage of Euro 1984.
Then, “Les Bleus” won 5-0 after a hat-trick from Michel Platini and goals from Alain Giresse and Luis Fernandez on their way to their first European title.
Didier Deschamps shuffled his attacking players, benching Ousmane Dembélé and starting Antoine Griezmann instead.
Marcus Thuram, who started instead of Barcola, and Kylian Mbappé were the other two forwards in the “Les Bleus” formation.
Domenico Tedesco made two changes. Loïs Openda and Yannick Carrasco started, while Youri Tielemans and Leandro Trossard were benched.
For the first time since the beginning of the tournament, Openda and Lukaku started together in a match for Belgium.
The match began evenly, but after the tenth minute, “Les Bleus” took the initiative. Griezmann and Koundé combined well on the right, creating a significant threat in front of Casteels’ goal, but the Barcelona player’s poor return pass ruined the situation.
The only accurate shot in the first 20 minutes was from Griezmann, but it posed no problem for Casteels.
In the 23rd minute, Doku made his first breakthrough on the left, dealt with Koundé, and was fouled by Griezmann near the penalty area. The Atlético forward received a yellow card, and De Bruyne took the free kick, shooting directly at the goal.
The ball deflected slightly off the wall and landed awkwardly in front of Maignan, who cleared it with his foot.
After this moment, the Belgians became more active and took control. In the 27th minute, Openda outmaneuvered Upamecano. His cross was cleared, but the ball reached Carrasco, who shot, but Hernandez blocked his attempt.
The “Red Devils” appealed for a handball, but the defender’s hand was tight to his body, making it impossible to award a penalty.
In the 34th minute, Koundé crossed perfectly from the right, and Thuram headed the ball, but his shot went wide.
The French finished the half stronger.
In added time, they could have taken the lead when Mbappé made his first successful run of the day from the left, bypassing Doku, reaching the byline, and seeking a pass. The ball deflected to Tchouaméni, who shot powerfully but over the bar.
Tchouaméni was close to scoring again a few minutes after the start of the second half. The Real Madrid midfielder shot well from about 22 meters. The ball slightly deflected and headed for Casteels’ bottom left corner, but the keeper made a quality save.
Shortly after, Thuram connected with a Koundé cross, but he hit the ball with his shoulder instead of his head, sending it over the goal.
France’s pressure from the start of the second half continued, and in the 54th minute, Mbappé made a good run and shot from the edge of the penalty area, but this shot also went over the bar. A bit later, Koundé again made a good run on the right and found Mbappé in the box.
However, the French captain failed to strike the ball well, and his shot was again off target.
In the 60th minute, the Belgians did something in attack for the first time in a while. De Bruyne made a great pass to Carrasco in the penalty area, but he hesitated, allowing Theo Hernandez to make an excellent tackle and clear the ball for a corner.
Deschamps replaced Thuram with Kolo Muani, and Tedesco brought on Mangala for Openda.
In the 71st minute, Romelu Lukaku finally created something interesting in the attack. The striker received the ball on the left and shot powerfully, but Maignan saved.
Three minutes later, France had another chance. A corner was cleared, but Saliba controlled the ball, bypassed Doku, and shot powerfully, but the ball hit outside the net.
In the 78th minute, another shot from Mbappé flew over the goal.
In the 83rd minute, Doku found De Bruyne near the penalty area. The Manchester City midfielder shot immediately, but Maignan was again at his best and saved.
France’s pressure paid off in the 85th minute. A prolonged attack ended with Kante passing to Randal Kolo Muani in the penalty area. The forward turned and made a not-particularly-good shot, which deflected off Vertonghen’s knee and went into Casteels’ net.
The Belgians needed more time to change anything and ended their participation in EURO 2024.
France will face Portugal in the quarter-finals after the latter dramatically eliminated Slovenia 3-0 in a penalty shootout.
The teams finished 0-0 after regular time and extra time in their Euro 2024 round of 16 matches, but Portugal was much more accurate in the shootout.
The match was memorable for Cristiano Ronaldo’s numerous misses. He took a double-digit number of shots at Jan Oblak and even missed a penalty in the 105th minute, epitomizing the missed opportunities during the game. This decision caused the 39-year-old Portuguese star to break into tears immediately afterward.
However, he redeemed himself when it mattered most by scoring one of his team’s penalties, contributing to their ultimate victory.
The hero for Portugal during the penalty shootout was goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who saved three consecutive Slovenian penalties.
Thus, Portugal will face the strong French team in the quarter-finals, who defeated Belgium 1-0 earlier.
The Slovenian team played extremely bravely and organizedly, having their chances. Once again, they remained unbeaten regularly, making them proud of their performance.
Their star, Benjamin Šeško, had a significant opportunity, missing a clear chance in the final moments of extra time when he was one-on-one with Costa.
Interestingly, the two teams had only one previous encounter, which occurred very recently. At the end of March, Slovenia defeated Ronaldo and company 2-0 in a friendly match, ending Portugal’s then-streak of 11 consecutive victories. This event marked the first loss for coach Roberto Martinez.
Today, the Portuguese coach did not experiment as he did in the match against Georgia and relied on the starters from the previous group stage matches, using a 4-3-3 formation.
Cristiano Ronaldo was again at the forefront of the attack, with Bernardo Silva and Rafael Leão operating on the wings. Behind them in the midfield were Bruno Fernandes, Palhinha, and Vitinha. Veteran Pepe also returned to the heart of the defence, partnering with Ruben Dias.
Slovenian coach Matjaž Kek made only one change to his lineup compared to the goalless draw with England, and it was a forced one.
Jure Balkovec started in place of the suspended left-back Erik Janža. Slovenia’s attack was once again led by their star Benjamin Šeško and Andraž Šporar.
The match began with more active play from Portugal, as an early dangerous cross to Rafael Leão was cleared for a corner by Žan Karničnik, and Ruben Dias’s shot from the subsequent corner went wide. In the 13th minute, another dangerous cross from Bernardo Silva nearly found Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes.
The next opportunity for Portugal came 13 minutes later when João Cancelo crossed, and Jan Oblak easily caught Ronaldo’s header.
A minute later, Rafael Leão’s dangerous run was stopped by a foul on the edge of the penalty area.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick went over the Slovenian goal.
Slovenia’s first accurate shot came in the 44th minute from Benjamin Šeško, with Diogo Costa saving it easily.
In the final seconds of the first half, another break by Leão led to a long-range shot from Palhinha, which narrowly missed Oblak’s goal and hit the right post.
At the start of the second half, Cancelo made a dangerous run down the right, and after a poor clearance by a Slovenian defender, the ball fell to Bernardo Silva, who shot wide.
In the 55th minute, Oblak saved Ronaldo’s powerful free-kick. Six minutes later, Slovenia had a golden opportunity to score on a dangerous counterattack, but Šeško’s shot went disappointingly wide.
Meanwhile, Roberto Martinez made an offensive substitution, bringing on Diogo Jota for Vitinha. In the 72nd minute, Ronaldo missed another free-kick.
In the 90th minute, the 39-year-old striker missed another chance, shooting straight at Oblak after being set up by Diogo Jota.
The match then went into extra time.
Slovenia had two shots from Verbič and Gorenac-Stanković at the start of extra time, but neither troubled Diogo Costa. The decisive moment came in the 104th minute when Diogo Jota made a brilliant individual run and was brought down in Slovenia’s penalty area.
Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take the penalty, but his shot was saved by Oblak. The decision reflected his performance in the match and caused him to break into tears during the break between the halves of extra time, despite encouragement from his teammates.
In the second half of extra time, Palhinha’s header was saved by Oblak. In the 115th minute, Slovenia had another golden chance to strike a final blow to their opponent. After a mistake by Pepe, Šeško was one-on-one with Diogo Costa but missed the shot.
Thus, the match went to a penalty shootout to determine the winner.
In the shootout, Slovenia went first, but Josip Iličić missed. Cristiano Ronaldo then redeemed himself for his earlier miss and scored the first Portuguese penalty. Balkovec also missed, while Bruno Fernandes scored to make it 2-0.
Diogo Costa saved a third consecutive penalty from Verbič, and Bernardo Silva scored to make it 3-0, sending Portugal to the quarter-finals.