France scores late winner against Belgium in gritty victory to reach Euro 2024 quarterfinals
By Ben Morse, CNN
(CNN) — France scored a late winner to book its spot in the Euro 2024 quarterfinals thanks to a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Belgium on Monday.
With five minutes remaining of normal time, Randal Kolo Muani’s effort deflected off helpless Belgium defender Jan Vertonghen to secure France’s win.
It was a tight affair at the Düsseldorf Arena, with little to separate the two sides, with French superstar Kylian Mbappé – once gain playing in a mask for the broken nose he suffered earlier in the tournament – often on the periphery on the game.
Both Belgium and France haven’t quite hit their their stride at Euro 2024 and Monday’s game followed a similar pattern, with just a few chances and defenses on top – until Vertonghen reacted slowly to Kolo Muani’s shot.
France will now face either Portugal and Slovenia in the quarterfinals, with those two teams playing later on Monday in Frankfurt.
A tight affair
France started more confidently in Düsseldorf, dominating possession early on, though Les Bleus was unable to meaningfully trouble Koen Casteels in the Belgium goal.
Eventually Domenico Tedesco’s Belgium team was able to get a foothold in the game, with captain Kevin De Bruyne’s freekick almost sneaking in.
The first real opening of the game fell to France striker Marcus Thuram when his close-range header flew past the post after a glorious cross from Jules Koundé.
France continued to pile on the pressure, with Aurélien Tchouaméni blazing over from inside the box after some industrious work on the wing by Mbappé.
After the halftime break, Tchouaméni forced Casteels into his first real save as the Real Madrid’s deflected effort looked to be going in before the Belgium goalkeeper pushed the shot away. Moments later, Thuram went close with his close-range header flying over the bar.
Didier Deschamps’s side continued to be in the ascendancy, with Mbappé showing his fleet-footedness to evade defenders before sending a fierce effort just over the bar.
Against the run of play, Belgium’s Yannick Carrasco was put through on goal with just Mike Maignan to beat but French defender Theo Hernández slid in with a perfectly-timed block at the last moment.
Belgium’s all-time leading goal scorer Romelu Lukaku was the next to have a shot on target, with Maignan comfortably parrying it away.
Two-time European champion France has reached the final in three of the last four major international tournaments – the World Cup in 2022 and 2018 and Euro 2016 – and is now just three wins away from lifting another major trophy.
Meanwhile, UEFA said it will investigate England midfielder Jude Bellingham for a gesture he made after scoring against Slovakia on Sunday.
The 21-year-old was seen appearing to make a gesture similar to grabbing his crotch in the aftermath of his 95th-minute goal against Slovakia, which sent to the game to extra time, with England progressing to the quarterfinals after a 2-1 win.
European football’s governing body announced it is looking into a “potential violation of the basic rules of decent conduct” by Bellingham.
Bellingham denied there was any ill will directed towards the Slovakian team with the gesture, writing on X: “An inside joke gesture towards some close friends who were at the game. Nothing but respect for how that Slovakia team played tonight.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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