After three weeks without much emotion, Euro 2024 gets underway with two great posters for the first quarter-final: Spain-Germany (6pm) and Portugal-France (9pm), Friday.
Prestige. These four teams alone represent nine of the sixteen Henri Delaunay Trophies won since the competition was created, three for Germany (1972, 1980, 1996) and Spain (1964, 2008 and 2012), two for France (1984 and 2000) and Spain (1964, 2008 and 2012). One for Portugal (2016).
The only victory won by the “Seleção” eight years ago leaves a very bitter memory for the Blues led by Didier Deschamps, who were defeated at the Stade de France (1-0 after that), and they want revenge.
In addition to the French coach, representatives of this match will still be present on the stage in Hamburg.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who left injured early in the final, is still there, at 39, and so is Pepe, at 41, at the heart of defence.
On the French side, there is also Antoine Griezmann, the hero of Euro 2016 with his six goals, while Olivier Giroud is only there as a substitute.
But “Greese” is not in good shape at the Euros. He did not score, wasted chances and his hybrid position on the right flank against Belgium (1-0) in the round of 16 was not successful.
– No excuse for Mbappe –
Kylian Mbappe admitted Griezmann was “in a bit of a tougher moment”, but expressed regret that his partner was “slaughtered a bit” by the criticism.
The Blues captain himself admits he “couldn't find all his legs” and wasn't “100%” ahead of Portugal's clash with his youth idol, Cristiano Ronaldo, but Kyk doesn't want the game to be an “excuse”, no more than the mask protecting his broken nose.
If Mbappé scored only one goal from a penalty, against Poland (1-1), Cristiano Ronaldo did not score any. He even missed a penalty against Slovenia (0-0, 3 marks to 0), and cried, before he shot the first ball on goal in the series.
Offensive atonement remains the big problem for the French team in this Euro, as they themselves did not score any goals in the match, two goals in their own goal to complete Mbappe's penalty kick for 3 goals.
On the other hand, his defence, in the great tradition of Didier Deschamps, is almost impenetrable: he has only conceded one goal, a penalty from Robert Lewandowski.
But to beat Portugal it will be necessary to raise the efficiency bar significantly.
– Spain won all their matches –
Spain and Germany have no particular difficulty in scoring goals, as they have the two best attacks in the competition so far: 9 goals for “Roja”, and 10 for the host country.
This quarter in Stuttgart is also a replay of the final, but older. In 2008, Spain, led by Fernando Torres, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, beat Germany (1-0), led by Philipp Lahm, the current tournament director, in Vienna.
Luis de la Fuente's team made the strongest impression, being the only team to have won all their matches since the start of the competition. They were almost never in danger, except when Georgia briefly took the lead in the round of 16 before falling to the Spanish referee (4-1).
Parisian Fabian Ruiz (2 goals) is at the level of his life, and winning the 2023 Nations League has given this team confidence.
Germany were strong, fielding one of the tournament's most attractive players, Jamal Musiala, who shared the top scorer's spot with three goals, but they were troubled.
Switzerland were roughed up for a long time in the final group game (1-1), and Denmark came close to taking the lead in the round of 16 before winning (2-0).
The winners of these two big posters will meet in the semi-finals on Tuesday 9 July in Munich and will be able to watch the other two quarter-finals on Saturday: England-Switzerland (6pm) and Netherlands-Turkey (9pm).
Published on July 5 at 4:40 am, AFP
