Euro prepares for France-Belgium clash as Portugal meets Slovenia

The European Championship will be gearing up for a battle of the titans as the World Cup finalists take on Belgium on Monday.

In the other knockout match of the day, Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal will look to take on underdog Slovenia.

At this stage of the European Championship, France, favorite, and Belgium, competitor, would have liked to be well in their stride and have the wind in their sails as the round of 16 approaches.

Instead, the neighbors went into the knockout stages and found themselves in a head-on collision in Düsseldorf after both failed to finish top of their first-round group.

The much-vaunted French attack is suffering a crisis of confidence and coach Didier Deschamps, usually a steady hand guiding the team, appears unsure of what his next move will be.

Belgium will have lost some motivation in their cause following a surprisingly hostile reaction from their own supporters after limping into the next stage of the tournament in Germany.

Despite Wednesday’s draw against Ukraine securing them qualification, they were subjected to fierce criticism from their supporters and have since closed ranks.

Captain Kevin De Bruyne did not take kindly to the abuse and his attitude and demeanour will set the tone for the rest of the Belgium squad as they look to put the lacklustre performances of the group stage behind them.

Romelu Lukaku must regain his sense of goal after several missed chances in the tournament. His record of 85 goals with Belgium does not include any Euro 2024 goals, and overall he has a poor scoring record in major tournaments.

Few would have imagined that a French forward line would fail to score from open play in its first three matches of the tournament. One of their two goals was a Kylian Mbappe penalty and the other was an Austria own goal in their opening match.

Deschamps must now decide whether to reinstate Antoine Griezmann into the squad and partner him with Mbappe in attack.

Griezmann has long been a mainstay under Deschamps but was left out for their last game, a 1-1 draw with Poland, which saw Austria emerge as unexpected winners of Group D, which also included the Netherlands.

Belgium is France’s oldest and most frequent opponent. The two countries’ first international match was played 3-3 in Brussels 120 years ago.

Belgium leads in wins in the last 75 meetings 30-26, but France has won the last two – the 2018 World Cup semi-final in St. Petersburg and the Nations League semi-final in Turin in October 2021.

The winner of Monday’s clash at the Düsseldorf Arena will face either Portugal or Slovenia in the quarter-finals.

Portugal under pressure

Portugal’s talented side led by captain Cristiano Ronaldo will be under scrutiny when they take to the Frankfurt Arena to face underdogs Slovenia in their Euro 2024 round of 16 tie on Monday.

Despite finishing top of Group F with six points, Portugal stumbled and suffered an unexpected defeat to weak Georgia, raising many questions after arriving in Germany with high expectations as one of the favourites to win the title.

Even though the defeat came with Portugal fielding a second-choice team, the Portuguese were still led by Ronaldo and were never able to gain a foothold against a Georgian side who seemed to approach every challenge as if it were their last.

Georgia played locked down with a five-man defense, a defensive style that caused headaches for Portugal coach Roberto Martinez.

It is reminiscent of the match against the Czech Republic in their Euro opener, when Portugal had to dig deep to fight back and snatch a 2-1 victory with a stoppage-time winner.

This approach is also similar to the approach Slovenia are expected to take on Monday: a disciplined, deep back five that offers little space and explosive counter-attacks on long balls.

In March, Portugal struggled against Slovenia who handed Martinez his first defeat in 12 games in charge since taking over from long-time coach Fernando Santos after a disappointing loss to Morocco in the quarters. final of the 2022 World Cup.

Slovenia won 2-0 in Ljubljana in a friendly in which Portugal had almost 75% of the possession but seemed unsure how to beat their rival’s bottom five. They ended up getting caught in quick counters, much like they did against Georgia on Wednesday.

Martinez led Belgium’s golden generation to a world number one ranking and third place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. But his Belgium team were also a major disappointment at the 2022 finals in Qatar, when they were eliminated in the group stage after finishing third behind Morocco and Croatia.

Now Spaniard Martinez has a similar responsibility with Portugal and must help his talented side reach their potential and shed the underachieving label that already seems to haunt them.

Monday’s match, with Ronaldo on a mission to break records and a team set to make a statement on the big stage, will provide the perfect opportunity to prove his critics wrong as Portugal look to win their second title of European champion.