{"id":7901,"date":"2024-07-06T15:25:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-06T10:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/?p=7901"},"modified":"2024-07-06T15:25:02","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T10:25:02","slug":"ronaldo-heading-home-as-france-beats-portugal-5-3-in-a-penalty-shootout-in-euro-2024-quarterfinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/sports\/ronaldo-heading-home-as-france-beats-portugal-5-3-in-a-penalty-shootout-in-euro-2024-quarterfinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronaldo heading home as France beats Portugal 5-3 in a penalty shootout in Euro 2024 quarterfinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) \u2014 France\u2019s heartache in penalty shootouts is over. So is Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s last-ever European Championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a clash of the soccer superstars, it was Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 \u2014 and not Ronaldo, his idol \u2014 advancing to a semifinal match against Spain as France beat Portugal 5-3 in a shootout following a 0-0 draw on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal substitute Joao Felix hit a post with the only miss in the shootout and Theo Hern\u00e1ndez showed no sign of pressure by converting the clinching kick into the top corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a record sixth and final European Championship for the 39-year-old Ronaldo, who scored Portugal\u2019s first penalty in the shootout and ended up consoling fellow veteran Pepe<\/a> afterward as the 41-year-old defender cried on his captain\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to go through this moment of our loss, which is very painful,\u201d Pepe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronaldo\u2019s 20-year career in the Euros included the title in 2016 \u2014 when Portugal beat France in the final \u2014 and it remains to be seen if the five-time world player of the year will continue playing for his country through to the 2026 World Cup, when he will be aged 41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything is too raw,\u201d said Portugal coach Roberto Martinez, when asked if that was Ronaldo\u2019s last game for his country. \u201cWe are suffering a defeat as a team \u2014 there are no individual decisions at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory ended the recent heartbreak of Mbapp\u00e9 and France in shootouts, having lost in them at their last two major tournaments \u2014 in the last 16 at the Euros in 2021 and in the 2022 World Cup final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before that, the French were also defeated on spot kicks by Italy in the 2006 World Cup final so it had been 26 years \u2014 since beating the Italians in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in 1998 \u2014 that Les Bleus had been victorious in a shootout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mbapp\u00e9 didn\u2019t even take a penalty this time, having been substituted during halftime of extra time following a couple of knocks to his broken nose that was covered by a protective mask. France coach Didier Deschamps said his captain was tired, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Les Bleus didn\u2019t need their star player, as Ousmane Dembele, Youssouf Fofana, Jules Kounde and Bradley Barcola all found the net in the shootout \u2014 held at the end housing Portugal\u2019s vocal fans \u2014 before Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s coup de gr\u00e2ce set off jubilant scenes for the French inside the stadium in Hamburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d France goalkeeper Mike Maignan said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t always play that great, it was a complicated game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got to the penalty shootout and didn\u2019t waver. We can be proud of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France will play Spain in the semifinals after its extra-time win over Germany<\/a> in Stuttgart earlier Friday, with Les Bleus staying on course for a third European Championship title after 1984 and 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deschamps\u2019 team has reached the last four despite no France player having scored from open play so far in the tournament. Fortunately for Les Bleus, they have been excellent at the other end, conceding just one goal \u2014 a retaken penalty by Poland\u2019s Robert Lewandowski in the group stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are solid and exemplary in defense and that is essential at a major tournament,\u201d Deschamps said. \u201cWhen you don\u2019t score a lot of goals, it\u2019s best not to concede a lot of goals, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we need to score more goals .. we are at the mercy of our opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal exited having failed to score in either of its knockout games \u2014 the team beat Slovenia on penalties in the last 16 \u2014 and its final group match, leaving Martinez plenty of questions to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom our side, we deserved to win,\u201d the Portugal coach said. \u201cBut we are talking playing against the best players in Europe. It\u2019s a sad night.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) \u2014 France\u2019s heartache in penalty shootouts is over. So is Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s last-ever European Championship. In a clash of the soccer superstars, it was Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 \u2014 and not Ronaldo, his idol \u2014 advancing to a semifinal match against Spain as France beat Portugal 5-3 in a shootout following a 0-0 draw on […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":7902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}