Pre-tournament second-favourites France remain second in the betting following their penalty-shootout victory over Portugal on Friday, but Les Bleus must improve if they are to survive against the most impressive team of Euro 2024 so far.
Spain, who were also taken beyond 90 minutes in their 2-1 win over Germany, showed a different side to their game as they went toe-to-toe with a physical Die Mannschaft side roared on by a raucous crowd in the Stuttgart Arena.
Fifteen cards were dished out in an intense battle in Stuttgart, with 21-year-old Pedri an early casualty of Germany’s approach, but replacement Dani Olmo showed his worth by having a hand in both of his side’s goals.
Despite the physical battle, La Roja still managed to play some excellent football, with their first-half showing particularly impressive as they outshot the Germans 8-3. Their dominance did wane after Olmo’s opener - a composed side-footed effort past Manuel Neuer - but they recovered well from the late German equaliser to put in a solid extra-time showing.
The result against the second-best side in the tournament leaves them as 7-4 favourites in the outright market, and it is hard to argue with that as Luis de la Fuente’s side look like the team to beat this summer.
With adrenaline running high after 120 minutes of lively action, what followed in Hamburg was a bitter, albeit unsurprising, disappointment.
France and Portugal had just five shots between them in the first half and generated a tournament-low 0.14 expected goals and, while things did improve slightly in the second half, there was little to suggest that either of these sides deserved a spot in the final four.
A fairer result would be to send both France and Portugal home and field a repeat of Spain versus Germany for Tuesday’s semi-final but, unfortunately for us, that is not how football works, and Didier Deschamps does have a chance of reaching yet another major final.
Les Bleus have scored just three goals in five games so far, two of which were own goals and the other being a Kylian Mbappe penalty. No team has ever gone five games into a European Championship without scoring a goal from open play, but they have been excellent at the back and with the likes of Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, and Ousmane Dembele in attack, it is impossible to write them off.
Portugal took a similar route to success in Euro 2016 as they won just one game inside 90 minutes, eventually beating none other than France in extra-time in the final.
It would be a crime against football if the World Cup finalists halted La Roja’s march towards a fourth European Championship crown, but stranger things have happened in the world of football.
