France defeated Portugal 5-3 on penalties on Friday to qualify for the semi-finals of Euro 2024 in Germany, setting up an encounter with Spain.
The match ended goalless after 90 minutes which necessitated an extra time, which also ended goalless.
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Penalties were therefore needed to decide which country progresses to the semi-finals and France carried the day, scoring all five of their kicks, with Juan Felix missing his kick for Portugal.
It was Cristiano Ronaldo’s last Euro competition as he is 39 years old.
Earlier in the 63rd minute, Vitinha blew a huge opportunity. He was totally unmarked and fired a first-time shot towards goal from a few yards out, but Mike Maignan reacted superbly to keep the ball out.
In the 70th minute, Eduardo Camavinga spurned a great opportunity from inside the 6-yard box. The ball flew narrowly wide off the left post.
Four minutes later, Ousmane Dembele created a yard of space for himself and tried an effort from the edge of the box, but it went just wide off the left post.
In the 108th minute, Joao Felix latched onto a lofted pass from Francisco Conceicao on the edge of the six-yard box, but misdirected his header and sent it just wide of the left post.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
