By Victor Kanayo
France on Friday night beat Portugal on penalties to send Cristiano Ronaldo-Captained side out of the ongoing Euro 2024 in the quarter-final stage.
This followed a goalless draw, before penalty shootout between Europe’s football powerhouses ended 5-3 in favour of France.
A largely dull 120 minutes saw both sides struggle to create clear chances in Hamburg, before Joao Felix was the only player to miss in the shoot-out which gave chance for French man Theo Hernandez to net the winning spot.
Portugal’s exit has now signalled the end of European appearance by Ronaldo who had announced that 2024 Euro championship will be the his last.
Also, teammate Pepe who is 42 has bid Europe bye as a player.
Earlier, Spain defeated host Germany 2-1, with a late winner to emerge victorious.
Both France and Spain will do battle in the last four clash.
Heritagr Times HT reports that the other remaining quarter-final fixtures – Netherlands versus Turkey and England against Switzerland will be decided on Saturday.
