France won the European Football Championship in the quarter-finals, but Kylian Mbappé was substituted in the final moments. Today, the second battle pair of the semi-finals will be decided.
European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
Listen to the latest episode of the 11 friends podcast below or from this link.
France continue to fight for the European football title after knocking out Portugal on penalties in the quarter-finals on Friday night.
All five of France’s shots were successful, while one of Portugal’s attempts hit the post.
France will face Spain in the semi-finals.
– Apparently, that way you can go at least to the semi-finals. France has also had bad luck, because there have been many chances in many matches. The course of the match against Spain may even be favorable. Spain attacks with many players and France can attack with speed, Urheilu’s expert Toni Koskela says on Saturday morning’s 11 friends podcast.
Along with the victory, there is talk in France about the situation of the team’s biggest star.
Captain Kylian Mbappé unexpectedly walked off the field during the break of the follow-up match and handed out his captain’s armband to the head coach For Didier Deschamps. Mbappé was replaced at the same moment and the superstar who moved to Real Madrid watched the last quarter of the match and the penalty shootout from the bench.
Mbappé has suffered from an injury during the tournament, which is the result of the opening match of the Games. At that time, Mbappé collided with the opponent’s goalkeeper and broke his nose. He was completely sidelined for one game before returning to the field wearing a face mask.
Deschamps said Mbappé talked about his fatigue and difficulties after the situation. The head coach admitted that the team’s most important player is not fit.
– He is clearly tired, it’s not easy after what he’s been through. I saw him in trouble already in the first half of the follow-up match. There was no reason to leave him on the field even to take a penalty kick. Kylian has always been honest in our direction. So it felt normal to put freshness on the field, Deschamps reasoned.
On Friday, even the mask didn’t always help. At one point, Mbappé was left lying on the field in pain after being hit by the ball in the area of his nose. However, he continued the match even after the situation.
When he came to change, he immediately got an ice pack and started pressing it on his nose.
Mbappé has scored one goal in the tournament, a penalty kick into the Polish net. The hit was the first of his career in the European Championships.
In their five matches of the entire tournament, France has not scored a single goal in a normal game situation, but its other two hits were marked as an own goal by the opponent.
The experts did not give incense to the French style.
– This was elevator music! Everyone knows what’s coming, and when they leave, no one remembers what they heard. This was exactly what was expected. Unfortunately, because it was also boring, Urheilu’s expert Erkka V. Lehtola boring.
– Five matches with that team, i.e. hundreds of minutes of football, without an own goal. I can’t believe it’s possible with that group.
France’s next opponent, Spain, knocked out host Germany. The match was also decided by a long formula, as Spain scored the winning goal in the follow-up match and went on to continue with a score of 2–1. At the same time, the wonderful career of German legend Toni Kroos ended.
The second semi-final battle of the tournament will be decided tonight. England will face Switzerland in the first match, while the Netherlands will face Turkey in the late game.
Like France, England have not played spectacular football, despite entering the tournament as one of the biggest favorites to win the title.
– There is no need for sleeping pills here, because Switzerland is on the field. It is not as weak as was sometimes estimated in the spring. It made Italy almost a lower division team, was sovereign. It plays with strong confidence and has experienced top-level players in key positions. “England has been amazingly anemic at times,” says Lehtola.
At 18:15 EM studio TV2 and Areena
At 19 England-Switzerland
At 10 p.m. Holland-Turkey
The races are followed moment by moment in the app and on ‘s website in this article.