France struggled against Portugal for a long time. The game was only decided in a penalty shootout. The next opponent was Spain. The European Championship career ended for a superstar.
Tournament favorite France has ended Cristiano Ronaldo’s European Championship career and dramatically reached the semi-finals of the European Football Championship against Germany’s conqueror Spain. In the duel of superstars, Kylian Mbappé’s French team won 5:3 on penalties against Ronaldo’s Portuguese team in Hamburg. No goals were scored in regular time or extra time.
Ronaldo retires
The 39-year-old record player and record goalscorer Ronaldo, who did his job in the decision from the penalty spot, had already announced before this game that he would not be taking part in the next European Championship in 2028 in Great Britain and Ireland. João Félix only hit the post in the penalty shootout.
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France’s leader Mbappé, on the other hand, can still hope for France’s third European Championship title after 1984 and 2000 with the Équipe Tricolore and will face the Spanish, who had previously defeated hosts Germany 2-1 after extra time, on Tuesday at 9 p.m. in Munich.
In front of 47,789 spectators at the last European Championship match in the Volksparkstadion, the Portuguese gained a slight advantage in the opening phase. Much of the play was down the left side with the strong dribbler Rafael Leão. Ronaldo, however, was unable to control the game.
Mbappé, France’s ball distributor
His French counterpart Mbappé was always sought out by his teammates. The 25-year-old future Real Madrid professional mostly acted more as a ball distributor. The former Frankfurt player Randal Kolo Muani played alongside him in the striker position.
After an hour, things got spectacular in both penalty areas: first, Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes was thwarted by Maignan (61′), and two minutes later, Maignan was on hand to stop Vitinha. On the other side, defender Rúben Dias prevented his team from going behind through Kolo Muani with a sliding tackle (66′). A little later, Eduardo Camavinga missed from close range in front of Portugal’s goal (70′). The substitution of Ousmane Dembélé for Antoine Griezmann brought life into the French game, at least for a short time.
France beats Portugal only in a penalty shootout – all highlights in the video
03:00 min
Neither team was able to force a decision. So, like the first quarter-final of the day, the game went into extra time. And in the third minute, Ronaldo had a great chance to take the lead, but he hit the ball well over the goal from close range.
41-year-old Pepe cleared everything away
The Portuguese continued to try, but the clear finish was missing. France relied on counterattacks, including the speedy Dembélé. When things got dangerous for the Portuguese, the 41-year-old Pepe cleared everything away. Mbappé stayed out for the second half of extra time. The star player treated his face on the bench with a blue ice pack. His teammates had to fix it in the penalty shootout.
Source: Stern
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