Nick Ames was in Hamburg, and his report is in. Here it is! Congratulations to France, commiserations to Portugal, and thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
France squeezed through after a tense battle ended without a goal in 120 minutes, João Félix’s shootout miss proving decisive
Updated
Fri 5 Jul 2024 18.09 EDT
First published on Fri 5 Jul 2024 13.31 EDT
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French fans will be doubly delighted to find out that, when the winning kick went in, Kylian Mbappé sprinted onto the pitch in a good humour. Hopefully that nose will be fine by the time France take on Spain in Munich on Tuesday evening. Didier Deschamps will certainly hope his star striker is fit to play, because France have somehow reached the last four with a tally of three goals in five matches, one of them a penalty, the other two scored by opposing players. Plenty of space for improvement there. Having said that, some fine spot kicks dispatched in the shootout tonight!
RESULT: Portugal 0-0 France (aet; France win 5-3 on pens)
A blank look on Ronaldo’s face as the reality of the situation sinks in. That might be the end of the great man’s European Championship story, one that stretches back to 2004. Antoine Griezmann comes over to offer his commiserations, and Ronaldo smiles wryly. The rest of the French team meanwhile get down to some serious celebration, sprinting this way and that, leaping about in joy.
PENALTIES: Portugal 3-5 France. Hernández whips into the top-left corner, and France are through to the semi-finals!
PENALTIES: Portugal 3-4 France. Nuno Mendes has to score … and he does, hitting the top-right corner. Postage-stamp stuff. What confidence with his back to the wall!
PENALTIES: Portugal 2-4 France. Barcola, who came on for Mbappé, fizzes his kick into the left-hand side of the net, the keeper going the wrong way. France on the verge of the semis! Portugal on the brink.
PENALTIES: Portugal 2-3 France. João Félix stutters … then smacks his penalty off the base of the left-hand post. Maignan might have got to that anyway. Advantage France!
PENALTIES: Portugal 2-3 France. Koundé goes top left. As good as Silva’s seconds before! What nerve that took.
PENALTIES: Portugal 2-2 France. Bernardo Silva sends a sensational penalty into the top-right corner. Maignan guesses correctly again, but once more has no chance.
PENALTIES: Portugal 1-2 France. Fofana next for France. Straight down the middle. Diogo Costa no longer there. Super cool.
PENALTIES: Portugal 1-1 France. Ronaldo up. He mutters to himself. A deep breath. A stutter. Then a whip into the bottom left. Maignan went the correct way, but couldn’t reach it. Ronaldo flexes his muscles in celebration. That took nerve.
PENALTIES: Portugal 0-1 France. Dembélé rolls the first kick into the right-hand side of the net. Diogo Costa sent the wrong way.
Ronaldo wins the coin toss, but allows France to go first. These kicks are happening in front of Portugal’s fans. Dembélé up first.
Portugal may feel more confident going into this shootout. They’re coming off the back of that efficient 3-0 shootout win over Slovenia … while France have lost their last three shootouts, against Italy and Argentina in the 2006 and 2022 World Cup finals, and Switzerland in the last Euros.
EXTRA TIME, FULL TIME: Portugal 0-0 France
Thuram tries to bustle clear down the middle on the counter-counter, but is crowded out. Penalties it is, then!
ET 30 min: Some end-to-end fun right at the end. Hernández drives down the left and rolls across the edge of the box for Fofana, who can’t shuttle across to Dembélé, free on the right. Then Prtugal counter, Bernardo Silva in acres down the right. He rolls across for Nuno Mendes, who sends a daisycutter from the edge of the box straight at Maignan! A huge chance to win it!
ET 29 min: Vitinha is replaced by Matheus Nunes.
ET 28 min: Dembélé skedaddles down the right at warp speed, winning a corner. He takes it himself. Some head tennis. Ronaldo eventually clears and the whistle goes, Tchouameni having clumsily clanked into an opponent.
ET 27 min: Vitinha swings the corner in from the right. It’s long. Ronaldo attempts to connect with an overhead kick, only to slip and miss. He’s been shoving Upamecano and pulling his shirt, and the whistle goes for a free kick.
ET 26 min: Kanté’s careless pass in midfield is snatched up by Conceição, who dribbles down the right and wins a corner. Vitinha to take.
ET 24 min: Rúben Neves tries to release Nélson Semedo down the right but his pass is a clunker. Goal kick. France go up the other end, Barcola waltzing past three challenges down the left before shanking a dismal effort miles wide left of the target from six yards.
ET 22 min: Dembélé dribbles in from the right, past a couple of red shirts, and makes enough space by the edge of the D to shoot. But he leans back and larrups over.
ET 20 min: Here’s Ronaldo doing something. A run down the right. He can’t get clear of Hernández, who comes across to poke out for a corner. Portugal don’t get to take the set piece, though, because it turns out Ronaldo had gone way too early and was offside.
ET 19 min: Portugal’s fans are making all the noise. In fact they’ve kept it going all evening. Impressive stuff, given their team aren’t giving them too much to work with. “How is Jota not getting on the pitch?” asks Graham Wynne. “He came on and won a penalty last time and looked sharp. It makes no sense at all. While Ronaldo stays on doing nothing all game. Madness.”
ET 18 min: Conceição drives down the right and crosses long for João Félix, who heads into the side netting from six yards. It was a tight angle, to be fair. “Kanté and Pepe have probably been the players of the match, but their colleagues at the back have also been excellent,” argues Kári Tulinius. “Is there anything as dispiriting in football than two teams putting in admirable defensive efforts? Sheesh.”
ET 16 min: Nuno Mendes briefly threatens to steam clear down the left but Koundé hooks clear just in time.
France get extra time underway again. Kylian Mbappé’s nose is bothering him, and he hasn’t been able to continue. He sits on the bench pressing his de-masked face into an ice pack, and Bradley Barcola takes his place. Meanwhile João Félix has replaced Rafael Leão.
EXTRA TIME, HALF TIME: Portugal 0-0 France
What either team would give for an own goal or penalty.
ET 15 min: Conceição dribbles down the right and, using Hernández as a shield, aims a curler towards the top left. High and wide.
ET 13 min: A right-wing cross drops to Rafael Leão on the penalty spot. He aims a shot towards the right-hand side of the France net, but Upamecano sticks out a leg to block.
ET 11 min: Both teams sit in, going nowhere. If this was a frame of snooker there’d be a re-rack.
ET 9 min: Portugal perambulate. Players getting tired.
ET 7 min: Dembélé sits Pepe down, 30 yards from goal, then feeds Mbappé in acres of space to his left. Mbappé cuts infield and lines up a shot, which he eventually takes, only for it to be blocked by … Pepe, who had sprung back up to make a last-ditch intervention! “It’s boiling hot in my part of California,” begins Peter Oh, “with the mercury yet to hit today’s high of 110F/43C. Still, probably not as hot as the joints of Pepe’s knees. I’ve always loved to hate him, but strangely find myself rooting for him in his feisty efforts to desperately keep up with the young ‘uns.”
ET 5 min: … but otherwise, there’s not too much going on at the Volksparkstadion. “Nothing here that the introduction of Count Binface wouldn’t improve,” notes Charles Antaki.
ET 3 min: Conceição skins Hernández down the right and pulls back from the byline. He finds Ronaldo, eight yards out. Ronaldo has to score, but flips a wild first-time shot high and wide right. He had to score. Hey, spurning a gilt-edged chance to take the lead in extra-time didn’t do Ronaldo any harm in the long run against Slovenia, so let’s see how this pans out.
ET 2 min: Mbappé probes down the left but can’t get past Nélson Semedo. “Surely if there’s ever one team you want to concede free kicks to outside the box, it’s Portugal,” suggests Paul F. “Natural point to start a counter attack.”
France get the first period of extra time underway. Youssouf Fofana has replaced Eduardo Camavinga.
FULL TIME: Portugal 0-0 France
The whistle goes. These countries have now met four times in the knockout stage of a Euros, and every time the match has gone to extra time. (Their only other meeting in the finals, in the groups in Euro 2020, was a draw, naturally.)
90 min +3: Dembélé zips down the right and reaches the edge of the box. He tees up Mbappé, who makes another attempt to send a curler into the top right. There’s no oomph in it, and it’s an easy claim for Diogo Costa.
90 min +2: Rúben Neves comes on for João Palhinha.
90 min +1: Pepe somehow keeps up with Thuram in a race down the right. A last-ditch tackle leads to a corner. Mbappé tries to curl into the top right but gets it all wrong.
90 min: Kanté has another effort from long range easily saved by Diogo Costa. Portugal go up the other end, the ball dropping to Bernardo Silva just inside the box. He volleys. Saliba blocks. There will be three additional minutes.
89 min: Pepe hoicks long. Ronaldo is caught offside. “At this point Ronaldo will score only if a ball hits him by accident and slowly drops over the line,” writes João André. “On which goal is anyone’s guess.”
88 min: Kanté has a dig from distance. Easy for Diogo Costa. “This is not the intensity of football I require to keep me going the evening after an election night,” emails Adam Kent Ibanez, singing to the choir. Andy Gordon adds: “The inability of either team to find the net might mean consecutive all-nighters.”
86 min: Vitinha has a shot deflected wide right of goal. Before the resulting corner can be taken, Marcus Thuram replaces Randal Kolo Muani. Then Vitinha takes his corner, and that’s no good either.
85 min: Conceição needs a bit of treatment. But he’s OK to continue. Then Ronaldo bashes the free kick witlessly into the wall. What a waste.
83 min: Bernardo Silva tiptoes down the right touchline only to be skittled by Mbappé. The referee waves play on. Portugal aren’t happy, but come again through Conceição down the same flank. Saliba comes across and brings him down on the edge of the box, flapping a hand in the youngster’s face for good measure. Into the book he goes.
81 min: Portugal knock the ball around in a not particularly adventurous fashion. This match is moving at stately pace towards extra time.
79 min: Maignan punches clear and France look to counter. Mbappé makes to sprint down the right only to be stopped by João Palhinha’s block tackle. It looks a good challenge, but referee Michael Oliver doesn’t think so, and Palhinha is awarded a yellow card that will keep him out of the semi-final should Portugal get there.
78 min: The subs Conceição and Nélson Semedo combine down the right to win a corner for Portugal. Bernardo Silva to take.
77 min: The pace drops. Tension rising.
75 min: Portugal make a double change, replacing Bruno Fernandes and João Cancelo with Francisco Conceição and Nélson Semedo.
74 min: Dembélé swans in from the right and curls a superb effort towards the top left. Diogo Costa is beaten all ends up, but the ball shaves the outside of the post. That would have been one heck of a strike.
72 min: Dembélé looks lively. He tears clear of Rafael Leão and fizzes a low ball into the middle. Pepe hoicks clear. France are beginning to crank up the pressure.
70 min: Dembélé makes a nuisance of himself down the right. His low cross is deflected off Pepe’s heel and drops to Camavinga on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. He’s surely got to score, but drags a pitiful shot across Diogo Costa and wide left. How on earth is this still goalless? Both of these teams appear to have forgotten how to score.
69 min: To be fair, this second half is much better. Both teams have now carved out decent chances; more confident teams would have converted one or two of them.
67 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner. Meanwhile the ineffectual Antoine Griezmann is replaced by Ousmane Dembélé.