In the quarterfinals of the European Cup on July 6, Beijing time, France beat Portugal in penalty shootout, Spain beat Germany in extra time, and the semifinals of the European Cup decided two places, France and Spain both advanced to the semifinals for the sixth time in history, making history again, and the two teams will compete for a final seat at 3 am on July 10.
France vs Portugal
The opening stages of the two sides continued to test the tempo of the game, both teams were more defensive, unwilling to press forward too early to expose the flaws in the back, Parinha and Mendes completed tackles one after another, and B Fei's shot from outside the box was also not threatening. Cristiano Ronaldo is heavily targeted, and it is difficult to play a smooth match with his teammates on the wing, so he can only play more physical confrontations with Te'o and enter grappling mode. In the middle of the half, France once suppressed the onslaught, the heavy artillery outside the Te'o box was saved, Mbappe's cross was intercepted, and Mbappe counterattacked and forced Mendes to defuse the danger. Portugal's wing-centre link was hampered and it was even more difficult to create danger, with several crosses from the flanks from Joao Cancelo and Rafael Leao intercepted and Fernandes taking a free-kick just before half-time. The two teams had only one of their five shots on goal in the half, and the combined expected goals were just 0.15.
In the second half, the tempo of the game increased dramatically, and the field was also divided between attack and defence, Bernardo's header and Bruno's volley went wide one after another. France gradually suppressed Portugal and created a greater threat in front of goal, Mbappe's powerful shot was saved, Tchouameni shot wide from distance, Muani's volley in the box was blocked, Camavinga's low shot from the top corner of the small box cleared the goal and missed a good opportunity, Portugal was in constant danger in front of the goal. At half-time, Portugal were forced to retreat deep after being pressed, but the defensive line of Costa and Pepe withstood the pressure, blocked the long-range shots of N'Golo Kante and Mbappe, and successfully prevented Thuram's bottom line from breaking through. The two teams staged a defensive battle and the game ended in a 0-0 draw in regulation time.
Extra-time was still an "abstract" offensive performance, Ronaldo received a powerful shot from the triangle back pass, Leao and Conceição's long-range shots were all deflected, Thuram and the hard counter-attacking shots were cleared one by one by the defense led by Pepe, Mbappe was also replaced at half-time, Mendes pressed the whistle and the shot was saved into the penalty shootout. Cristiano Ronaldo and Ousmane Dembele scored in the first round, while Wesley Fofana and Bench B both scored in the second round. In the third round, Felix hit the post, Kounde scored, in the fourth round Balcora and Mendes scored, and in the last round Te'o scored, France eliminated Portugal 5-3 with all five free throws, returning to the semifinals of the European Championship after eight years, and also reaching the semifinals for the sixth time in team history. Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score in his European Championship curtain call, comforting a crying Pepe after the game.
Spain VS Germany
Treble winners Spain suffered a blow in the opening stages, Pedri's withdrawal due to injury did not disrupt the team's offensive and defensive deployment, and substitute Olmo quickly stabilized the morale of the team. After a fierce battle, Germany gradually gained the advantage on the field, but there were not many opportunities to really threaten the opposition goal. Spain were slightly passive on the pitch, but they far outnumbered their opponents in terms of the number of shots on goal, but the quality of the final shot was still lacking, Yamal and Fabian missed the shot from distance, Laporte and Williams were easily defended by Neuer, and both sides struggled to score in the first half.
The two teams returned to the second half and quickly deployed their troops, Spain seized on the flaw in the German backline to protect the front line in the opening stage, Yamal sent a low cross from the right to hit the empty space, and Olmo was clever and flanked and calmly pushed into the corner to take the lead. Germany made frequent substitutions to adjust the effect of play, and Phil Krueger came on and hit the post to almost equalise. In the closing stages, Wirtz received an assist from Kimmich's header and equalised with a powerful volley to send the game into extra-time. Spain and Germany were still evenly matched in extra-time, with Wirtz having chances but failing to capitalise on the goal, and Cucurella's controversial handball in the box at the back was ignored before Merino's header in the 119th minute led Spain to a 2-1 victory. Reached the semi-finals of the European Championship for the sixth time and broke the curse of the 90 World Cup/Euro Championship that could not beat the hosts. Muller and Kroos also completed their final European Championship matches.