Key events
And so to England, who face Switzerland on Saturday. Gareth Southgate has made the reasonable point that Italia 90 and Euro 96 weren’t all milk and cookies either.
Everybody now looks back at 96 in a different way to how it was at the time,” Southgate said. “We were bang average against Switzerland [in the opening tie]; we were the same against Scotland. They missed a penalty at 1-0. Spain should have beaten us in the 0-0 draw … 1990 was similar. So you do go through these moments in tournaments. We know we should be better than we’ve been but I’m saying that …
Austria v Turkey (8pm)
Ralf Rangnick’s side hammered Turkey 6-1 in a friendly in March, which adds a meaty layer of context to tonight’s game. Here’s Nick Ames’ preview of what is going to be a cracking game. You have our word.
Roberto Martinez on Cristiano Ronaldo
I thanked him [afterwards] for being the way he is, for caring for the group. I was certain that he would be the first penalty taker and show us the way to take victory. I think we’re all very proud of our captain. Our dressing room was all delighted. I think he gave us all a lesson. Life and football gives you difficult moments and the way he reacted shows why we are so proud in Portuguese football.
Romania v Netherlands (5pm)
Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman was asked at his press conference what he thought Johan Cruyff would have made of their defeat to Austria. I can’t decide whether that’s an ingenious question or a bit snide; probably the former.
It’s a difficult question. I know he liked attacking football very much, but I was a part of his team a long time and we had worse matches than we did against Austria. Of course, we are a proud nation; we like to win, we like to play nice football, but it’s not always happened. We take the critics, no problem, and we’d like to turn it around and make people happy for the final result.
Randal Kolo Muani played a big part in France’s winning goal against Belgium. Here’s Barney Ronay on our old friends, sport and politics.
Most obviously the presence of successful and highly visible players such as Kolo Muani in this France team represents, in outline, something that is not National Rally, the immigration-fixated hard-right party that took the single largest share in the overnight parliamentary elections.
RN wants tougher controls on citizenship. RN wants to reduce access to certain jobs for people it sees as insufficiently French. Kolo Muani’s parents were born in Kinshasa. He holds dual nationality. He embodies, along with his teammates, a happy, functional tableau of people from a deep cut of French society.
On this day in 2000… more misery for Italy, who are seconds away from winning Euro 2000 when the ball drops to Sylvain Wiltord.
On this day in 2016… poor Simone Zaza launched a memorable penalty into orbit during Italy’s quarter-final defeat to Germany.
In other news, the Copa América hosts USA went out at the group stage after an extremely controversial defeat to Uruguay, whose winning goal looked offside to the naked eye. Team VAR thought otherwise.
France 1-0 Belgium
Here’s Sid Lowe’s report on another day of underwhelming success for France.
Deschamps suggested that this was all part of the plan, proud of a team he said had not fallen into the “traps” the Belgians laid for them. Getting here, he said, was something worth celebrating. After all, it is not so easy and they might not have done.
Ronaldo: I was at rock bottom
Here’s the great man’s reaction to last night’s melodrama.
Even the strongest people have their bad days. I was at rock bottom when the team needed me most. I was sad at first but now I’m happy. That’s what football is. Moments, inexplicable moments.
When I think of my family, I feel emotional because they are unique moments that I cannot express in words. They are people I love, the fans who are always with us and especially with me, and I am very happy about that.
I hadn’t missed a penalty kick all year. At this moment I missed it, but the most important thing is that the team won. I lost twice on penalties this season and won the third time. Sometimes football is fair and sometimes just, but we deserved to qualify.
I will always give my best for this shirt, whether I fail or not, but you have to take responsibility. I have never been afraid to face things head on. Sometimes I do things right, sometimes I don’t, but giving up is something you will never hear from me.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to our daily Euro 2024 news blog. We’re down to the last ten: France and Portugal reached the quarter-final yesterday, and the last two places will be decided by today’s fixtures:
Yesterday’s games were relatively boring but highly dramatic. France beat Belgium with a late own-goal from Jan Vertonghen; and Portugal, as predicted, beat Slovenia comfortably – but only in a penalty competition after a fraught goalless draw. All three of Slovenia’s kicks were saved by Diogo Costa.
Cristiano Ronaldo managed to both enhance and diminish his reputation. At times his desperation to score turned the game into a bit of a farce. But after having an extra-time penalty brilliantly saved by Jan Oblak, a moment that reduced Ronaldo to tears on the field, he showed extraordinary mental strength to score with an unsaveable penalty in the shootout.
Here’s what Jonathan Wilson made of it all.
