Pepe of Portugal is consoled by teammate Cristiano Ronaldo following the team's defeat in the penalty shoot out during the UEFA EURO 2024 quarter-final match between Portugal and France at Volksparkstadion on July 5 in Hamburg, Germany.Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
France ended Cristiano Ronaldo’s bid to win the title at his last European Championship by beating Portugal 5-3 in a penalty shootout to reach the semi-finals on Friday.
After the game finished 0-0 following extra time, Portugal substitute João Félix hit a post with the only miss in the shootout and Theo Hernández showed no sign of pressure by converting the clinching kick into the top corner.
It was a record sixth and final European Championship for the 39-year-old Ronaldo, who scored Portugal’s first penalty in the shootout and ended up consoling fellow veteran Pepe afterward as the 41-year-old defender cried on his captain’s shoulder.
“We need to go through this moment of our loss, which is very painful,” Pepe said.
Ronaldo’s 20-year career in the Euros included the title in 2016 – when Portugal beat France in the final – 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.
“Everything is too raw,” said Portugal coach Roberto Martínez, when asked if that was Ronaldo’s last game for his country. “We are suffering a defeat as a team – there are no individual decisions at this point.
“Football can be cruel. We wanted to give joy to the Portuguese people and the message is that the team gave everything and showed Portugal’s values.
“It was a good game and France is a good team. We had more ball, we created opportunities … but we lacked precision and we needed to score a goal. We had a lot of opportunities, but it was a game of high technical and tactical level.”
The victory ended the recent heartbreak of Kylian Mbappé and France in shootouts, having lost in them at their last two major tournaments – in the last 16 at the Euros in 2021 and in the 2022 World Cup final.
Mbappé didn’t even take a penalty in the shootout, having been substituted after the first half of extra time following a couple of knocks to his broken nose that was covered by a protective mask.
Les Bleus didn’t need their star player, as Ousmane Dembélé, Youssouf Fofana, Jules Koundé and Bradley Barcola all found the net in the shootout – held in front of Portugal’s fans – before Hernández’s coup de grace set off jubilant scenes for the French inside the stadium in Hamburg.
“It wasn’t easy,” France goalkeeper Mike Maignan said. “We didn’t always play that great, it was a complicated game. We played well defensively.”
“We got to the penalty shootout and didn’t waver. We can be proud of ourselves. We knew it was going to be a tough game but we were solid in defence and we had a lot of mental strength and kept our cool during the shootout, that’s what made the difference.”
France will play Spain in the semi-finals after its extra-time win over Germany in Stuttgart, with Les Bleus staying on course for a third European Championship title after 1984 and 2000.
Didier Deschamps’ team has reached the semi-finals despite no France player having scored from open play so far in the tournament.
“It was a very tense, tight game,” Deschamps said. “It could have gone either way, even if we had a more difficult end to the game in extra time. Maybe we were a bit more tired. It comes down to details.
“I’m very happy for the squad, who played to the limit. We’re going to enjoy being in the last four. It’s becoming a habit but we mustn’t trivialize it. It’s to the credit of the whole group, those who play and those who can’t.
“We could have won, they could have won … With calm and serenity, those who scored in the shootout did well, and when the opposition misses, so much the better,” Deschamps added.
That made up for France’s pain after being eliminated from the last Euros in a last-16 shootout with Switzerland and also losing the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina on spot kicks.
Despite French joy at reaching the semi-finals, it has not been firing on all cylinders.
In fact, it has not yet scored in open play, benefitting from two own goals and a penalty in their previous four matches at the tournament.
“For various reasons, Kylian [Mbappé] and Antoine [Griezmann] are not playing their best football. But despite all of this, we’re here,” Deschamps said.
Portugal exited having failed to score in either of its knockout games – the team beat Slovenia on penalties in the last 16 – and its final group match, leaving Martínez plenty of questions to answer.
“From our side, we deserved to win,” Martínez said. “But we are talking about the best players in Europe. It’s a sad night.”
With a report from Reuters