France beat Portugal on penalties to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2024 but Didier Deschamps’ men have been goal-shy throughout the tournament, so much so that they’ve broken a record
France have become the first team in European Championship history to reach the semi-finals without scoring a goal from open play.
Les Blues’ total of five matches at Euro 2024 have also included just two non-penalty strikes, and even both of those were own goals. Didier Deschamps’ side made it through to the semi-finals on Friday thanks to a penalty shootout victory over Portugal, with the game having been goalless for 120 long minutes.
All five of France’s penalty takers scored to win the shootout 5-3, punishing Portugal forward Joao Felix, who hit the post. France will now face Spain on Tuesday for a mouth-watering semi-final clash in Munich but they’re still waiting to score from open play after 480 minutes of football throughout the tournament.
The World Cup runners-up began their campaign with a 1-0 win against Austria, courtesy of Max Wober’s own goal. They then played out a 0-0 draw with the Netherlands, who France could end up facing once again in the final.
In game three, Les Blues looked set to win Group D courtesy of Kylian Mbappe’s penalty until Robert Lewandowski equalised for Poland and made it 1-1, still the only goal France have conceded all tournament. When it came time for their round-of-16 clash with Belgium, France returned to their water-tight defence and profited from a Jan Vertonghen own goal late in normal time.
Then on Friday, their quarter-final against Portugal remained 0-0 until the end of extra-time. But even after captain Mbappe went off due to fatigue, Deschamps’ men kept their heads and won the shootout.
The France boss, though, admits that his side need to start scoring if they want to win the Euros for the first time since 2000 when he was captain. “We need to score more goals,” Deschamps acknowledged. “When you score more goals, you can manage things. [Otherwise] we are at the mercy of our opponent.”
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Deschamps was, however, delighted with France’s first shootout win since the 1998 World Cup, once again when he led the team from midfield. “It’s been a long time,” he noted after penalty defeats at major tournaments in 2006, 2021 and 2022. “It was a very hard game. We knew how good a team Portugal were, and both sides could have won.
“It was a bit more difficult for us in extra time, maybe because we were tired and they had a lot more of the ball, but we kept our calm and those who took penalties took them well… I am proud of my players, even if we are not doing everything perfectly we don’t give up, and once again we are in the semi-finals. I will savour this a little even if we have another game coming up.”
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