Belgium’s collapse and wild ending to Portugal’s game. What’s going on at the European Championship?
Mikhail Rozhdestvensky July 2, 2024, 02:00 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Tedesco still hadn’t stopped the French. And Ronaldo mounted an emotional swing.
The penultimate round of the Euro 2019 round of 16 has taken place! And it was, as always, intense. In our daily summary we tell you what happened in past matches.
Who will play who next?
What’s in the Euro playoff bracket? Mbappé vs Ronaldo and two more quarter-final pairings are known!
France eliminated Belgium
Forgive the characterization, but that’s exactly what it is. Some expected the French to make a comeback in the playoffs, as sometimes happens with the best teams in this type of tournament: first by saving their strength and then playing to their full potential. But for now Deschamps’ team is still struggling without playing spectacular football.
Kylian Mbappé and Kevin De Bruyne during the match
Photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images
France, of course, had their moments. But when it came to striking, they were embarrassingly inaccurate. The Belgians also had chances, but their execution also let them down. In the end, the favourites were favoured by a rebound: after a shot by Kolo Muani, the ball touched the experienced Vertonghen and flew in the opposite direction to Castells.
The Belgians tried to squeeze the last of the outgoing senior generation out of the gates, but came up empty-handed. Also without the goals of the unfortunate Lukaku, by the way. And France continues its cynical campaign for the trophy. The main question is: will this kind of football be enough in the quarter-finals? There are doubts.
Is it a shame for Belgium?
France has pirated football. It reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship without a goal in play!
Ronaldo’s drama with a happy ending. Thanks to the goalkeeper
Portugal – Slovenia in the round of 16. It would seem that the easiest pairing for predictions. But no! The Slovenians performed consistently in defence, but the Portuguese lost all execution. This is especially true for Ronaldo, who entered the field in search of new records, but instead was clearly nervous, scored all the free kicks and generally put too much pressure on himself.
Epic match!
The whole team calmed down the sobbing Ronaldo! The goalkeeper saved Portugal from collapse
Neither of them realized their chances. We had to go to extra time. And that’s when one of the highlights of the match occurred. Jota took a penalty (incidentally, Sochi defender Drkusic committed a foul), Ronaldo went to shoot… and didn’t score! Oblak’s save before the mini-break in extra time devastated Cristiano emotionally, who burst into tears as soon as the whistle blew, as if he had lost the final 20 years ago.
And yet Ronaldo calmed down with his teammates and Portugal, although they were unable to score in the second extra time, came 100% prepared for the penalty shoot-out. Cristiano converted his shot and even apologised to the fans. Well, Diogo Costa was especially prepared: this monster took all (!) three penalties and turned the series into a short film. 3:0 – Portugal is still ahead.
Cristiano Ronaldo apologizes to Portuguese fans
Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
By the way, the Portuguese will not be playing against a team of Slovenian level now, but against France. There, Cristiano will definitely have no room for error.
