France are through to the Euro 2024 semi-finals after beating Portugal on penalties!

Portugal 0-0 (3-5) France: Player Ratings and Match Highlights

France eliminated Portugal from Euro 2024 on penalties following a 0-0 draw, ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of another trophy with the national side. Joao Felix missed the decisive spot kick, seeing his effort cannon off the post.

With both teams having failed to find the back of the net from open play for quite some time, the first half was an understandably tepid affair. Each side spent much of the opening 45 minutes sizing each other up and playing a touch cagey, aware of the attacking potency either competitor possessed.

The second half did feature a more open affair, with the likes of Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha seeing big chances go begging for either side, but even in the games new nature, the two could not be split, with the game going all the way into extra time at 0-0.

From there, the game continued to open out, with Dembele fashioning a few chances for himself with quick, decisive sprints, and Ronaldo continuing to threaten in behind, although the best efforts of William Saliba and Theo Hernandez were enough to subdue him. There was to be nothing to split the sides, so penalties it was.

Diogo Costa may have been the hero of the day in the penalty shootout against Slovenia in Franfurt four days ago, but he was unable to keep out efforts from Dembele and Youssuf Fofana this time around, whilst Cristiano Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva found the net as they did in the last shootout.

Jules Kounde stepped up next to face Costa, and struck it mightily into the top left corner to precede Felix, who struck the foot of the post to hand the advantage to France. Les Bleus elected 21-year-old substitute Bradley Barcola to hand them the strong lead in the shootout, and he made no mistake with a calm disposition to send Costa the wrong way.

Nuno Mendes was up next for Portugal, needing to score in order to keep his side in the competition, and did so with a beautiful strike into the top right corner. But it was in vain as Theo Hernandez strode up to send Costa the wrong way, ensuring France advanced to the semi-finals, where they will face Spain after their 2-1 win against Germany.

Portugal Player Ratings

GK – Diogo Costa – 5/10

Didn’t have much to do in the first half, barring one save. Was much busier then on, but remained at his composed best.