On the morning of July 2, the French team defeated Belgium 1-0 in the round of 16, thereby winning a ticket to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.

Kolo Muani is the hero who helped France eliminate Belgium at Euro 2024 – Photo: REUTERS

With the tense nature of the match, both France and Belgium entered the game cautiously. Therefore, in the first half, there were not many dangerous opportunities.

France’s most notable clearance was Marcus Thuram’s header that went just wide in the 34th minute. Ten minutes earlier, goalkeeper Maignan had to work hard to save a tricky free kick from Belgium.

In the second half, the French team pushed up their attack. Kylian Mbappe played aggressively, breaking through on the left wing many times, causing danger. He also had a shot that went just over the bar in the 54th minute.

Antoine Griezmann, Tchouameni and even centre-back Saliba were also active in finishing. The Belgian team also showed that they were not completely outclassed when they had equally dangerous counter-attacks. Both Lukaku and De Bruyne had very strong shots, forcing goalkeeper Maignan to show his talent.