France finished ‘horror group’ F at the All-European Football Championship as the number one sprinter. And on Wednesday evening, at the conclusion of the entire group stage, the world champion scored 2-2 in a duel with Portugal in Budapest and took first place with five points. After the new edition of the European Championship finals in 2016, Portugal reached the second round, one point behind Germany and one of the four best third parties.
The French will face Switzerland on Monday, while the Portuguese will face Belgium on Sunday. The winner of this duel awaits the newcomer from Italy against Austria. Karim Benzema scored his first two goals in the European Championship with the French national team with a double (45 + 2, 47).
Ronaldo broke the goal record
The Portuguese again saved the star Cristiano Ronaldo from defeat, which he prevented with two penalties (31, 60). With 109 international goals, he equaled the world record of Iran’s Ali Daei.
With 21 goals in the World and European Championships, Ronaldo now holds another record he previously shared with German Miroslav Klose (19). He broke his Euro record to 14 goals, five times he’s succeeded in this tournament – more than any other to date.
The French had already got their ticket to the Round of 16, so the Portuguese were more vulnerable. They also had the first chance with a Ronaldo header, but it fell centrally to France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (sixth). On the other hand, Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio had to excel by Mbappe’s score (16th).
His opponent moved into the spotlight again in the 27th minute, hitting Danilo in the face in the penalty area with his fist and elbow in an attempt to clear and causing a penalty. He got a fine yellow card, but was helpless with Ronaldo’s shot. The veteran scored against France for the first time at the seventh attempt.
Shortly before the end of the first half, Equipe Tricolore responded with a penalty. After a foul by Nelson Semedo Mbappe, Benzema was nervous from the penalty spot. Unlike his return before the start of the tournament, where he missed a penalty kick. Immediately after the second half, the Real Madrid striker again performed superbly with a pass from Paul Pogba and scored 2:1 across the inner crossbar.
Ronaldo almost missed in return (49). Only his second hit was delayed. After a cross pass and a handball by Conde there was another penalty kick and once again the Juventus star dumped the ball into the left corner.
Since one point was enough for the Portuguese, they were especially keen to achieve the score over time. France dictated events and pressed the winning goal, but they weren’t so lucky either. Patricio thrillingly led Pogba’s superb long-range shot over the crossbar, and the goalkeeper also saved Antoine Griezmann’s well-watched follow-up shot (67).
No French penalty was issued in injury time, a highly controversial decision. France did not win for the first time when Benzema scored. Before that there were 22 victories.