France survive as Ronaldo goes quietly into the night

Kolkata: It wasn’t till the penalties that the dizzying, dazzling array of attacking talent came to the fore. France and Portugal could have pulled an all-nighter and it would have remained 0-0; the combined xG (expected goals) at half-time was 0.15, the lowest of this European championship.

So, the shootout it had to be and France were through to the semi-finals after a set of perfect shots. Though it was hard to say that Portugal were imprecise with their kicks, their journey in Germany was over soon after Joao Felix hit the upright.

Will this be the tournament where Didier Deschamps completes his cycle of winning everything international football has to offer as coach? Spain will be a stiff test but the omens look good. France are among the top four teams without having scored from open play in over 500 minutes and, as per Opta, 86 non-penalty shots. Including a World Cup final in Germany where they had come to grief against a goal post, France hadn’t won a shootout in a major since 1998.

Not just that. France had lost all four of their matches that went into extra-time in majors before Friday. Diogo Costa had saved three penalties the other night and once in the Champions League but the Portuguese goalkeeper couldn’t get close to any in Hamburg. Kylian Mbappe is a masked version of what should have been and when not that, an apparition. Yet, France remain standing.

Mbappe’s night began with a mispass and ended after a block by Pepe. Twice he shot at Costa without testing him. He breezed past Nuno Mendes but symptomatic of France’s frontline efficiency, the pass back was smashed into a teammate by Antoine Griezmann. Apart from delivering a cross that fizzed across goal with no teammate able to get a touch, Joao Cancelo kept Mbappe in check.

By the time of the penalties, Mbappe was on the bench and then on his haunches, visibly tense. “There was no point in leaving him on the pitch even if he was a penalty taker,” said Deschamps.

Portugal didn’t but you could say that for Cristiano Ronaldo as well. As a consequence, Goncalo Ramos, who has a hattrick in a World Cup, and Diogo Jota, who had 15 goals and four assists for Liverpool last season, stayed on the bench in the quarter-final. Television cameras showed Ronaldo winking at kick-off; it was the best shot of an all-time great who ended without a goal in this edition despite having 23 shots. The record of playing in 30 matches in six European championships and the feat of being a teammate to Sergio and Francisco Conceicao, father and son, will stay his. But they will segue into visuals of collapsing in tears during a match and raging against the dying of the light.

The way Theo Hernandez and William Saliba took the ball off him could have embarrassed the defenders if not Ronaldo. At half-time, Ronaldo had fewer touches than Mike Maignan. This was the ninth match in Euros or the World Cup where he had not scored.

Everything written above would have changed had Ronaldo not blasted Francisco Conceicao’s delivery in extra-time into the sky. Or not shot a free-kick into the wall. In the 117th minute, he tried a Jude Bellingham and ended belly-up after pulling Dayot Upamecano’s shirt. It seemed long ago when he had arrived in the box imploring in vain to Nuno Mendes to pass and not shoot. Ronaldo’s moment of Euro 2024? The assist to Bruno Fernandes against Turkey. Next best? Letting Fernandes take another poor free-kick against France.

It is said that the 1-6 defeat to Czechoslovakia in the 1958 World Cup got Argentina to shift from individual brilliance to the collective. Brazil would never have the panache of the 1982 World Cup but have won two World Cups and played another final since. Will this be the moment for Portugal? “It’s a lesson…We have to learn from it,” said Bernardo Silva.

It stayed 0-0 not just because Mbappe and Ronaldo, one constrained by a mask and the other clearly playing from memory, made limited contributions. France, who have not conceded from open play in Euro 2024, won 47 duels, three more than Portugal. Pepe, 41 and some, matching the fresh legs of Marcus Thuram in a foot race and taking the ball away was the highlight of a good defensive show from the teams.

Saliba was again sure of his play and what Upamecano didn’t do in the 50th was as important as what the centre-back did for the rest of the night. Chasing at full tilt, he braked and evaded contact with Mendes, avoiding a possible penalty claim. Jules Kounde had an equal battle with Rafael Leao. Hernandez tested Costa and in the 66th minute, Ruben Dias stuck out a leg in time to deny Randal Kolo Muani.

Minutes earlier, Maignan had stood strong to a Vitinha blast. Around the hour mark, Fernandes fired but Maignan saved superbly before Cancelo shot over. Late in extra-time, Felix headed into the side-netting before Mendes arrived and shot straight to Maignan.

So, France survived, somehow. In doing so, the team also sounded the bugle for a multi-cultural society ahead of France voting to decide if it is an idea worth pursuing.