In the first quarter-final, with the brilliance of Dani Olmo and Mikel Merino, the Spanish team defeated Germany 2-1.
Spain surprisingly opened the scoring in the 51st minute, thanks to striker Dani Olmo. Starting from a precise low cross from young talent Lamine Yamal, Olmo charged up from the second line and finished with a classy one-touch shot, defeating goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
After conceding the goal, coach Nagelsmann made some adjustments. The German team switched to attacking with high balls. However, the effectiveness of this attack was not high, when the Spanish team's defense supported each other too well.
Luck was not on the German team's side when in the 77th minute, Florian Wirtz ran down and passed the ball to Niclas Füllkrug to finish; goalkeeper Unai Simon stood rooted to the spot, but the ball hit the post.
The final minutes saw the hosts Germany put in a tireless attack. And Florian Wirtz's equalizer in the 89th minute forced this remarkable quarter-final into extra time.
The extra time was quite exciting and it seemed like the winner would have to be decided by a penalty shootout, but in the 119th minute, Mikel Merino scored the winning goal, giving Spain an emotional 2-1 victory.
There was too little time left for the German team to find an equalizer. Even when Carvajaj of Spain received a red card, the home team could not react in time.
Thus, after 36 years, since EURO 1988, the German team still has not been able to beat Spain in a major tournament.
In the second quarter-final, during the two regular halves, a very tight game was created by the French and Portuguese players at the Volksparkstadion. Both teams focused on defense and played with minimal mistakes.
In extra time, the most notable star of the French team, Kylian Mbappe, had to leave the field. His nose injury had not fully recovered and the protective mask had limited his playing style quite a bit.
After this striker left the field, France's performance dropped significantly, almost conceding at least 3 goals and luckily goalkeeper Mike Maignan's goal remained firm.
After a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes of play, the two sides had to enter a nerve-wracking penalty shootout. Notably, France have lost their last two EURO matches when they had to go into extra time, when they lost to Switzerland in the round of 16 of EURO 2020 and lost to Portugal in the 2016 final.
This time, fate did not turn its back on the "Gaulois" army when all 5 of their players successfully shot, while on the Portuguese side, Joao Felix's shot hit the post and went out. Coach Didier Deschamps and his team won 5-3 on penalties to send Ronaldo and the "European Selecao" home.
Thus, France and Spain are the two teams participating in the round of 4 strongest teams of EURO 2024. There will be another big match in the semi-finals of EURO 2024.
The last time the two teams "competed" at EURO was in 2012, when Laurent Blanc's France lost to Vicente Del Bosque's Spain with a score of 0-2 in the quarter-finals. However, everything has changed a lot in this meeting. France is the current world runner-up, the top candidate for the championship. Spain also played very impressively, but is in the process of rebuilding with a young squad and a new style of play.
La Roja will be without the suspended Robin Le Normand and Dani Carvajal for their upcoming clash with France, while Pedri is sidelined with a knee injury. Les Bleus, meanwhile, have no suspended players for the semi-finals.
EURO 2024 semi-final schedule
2:00 a.m. July 10: Spain - France
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