Euro 2024: Portugal and France meet in the quarter-finals, Ronaldo and Mbappé face off

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Portugal, France meet Europe championship The quarter-finals will take place on Friday and the match will see two of football’s biggest stars face off: Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian MbappéThe winner will face either Spain or hosts Germany in the semi-finals. Kick-off is at 9pm local time (7pm GMT) in Hamburg. Here’s what you need to know about the match:

Match Facts

— It’s a match between two pre-tournament favourites, but neither has been convincing. Portugal have failed to score in their last two games – a 2-0 loss to Georgia and a 0-0 draw with Slovenia before winning a penalty shootout – while no French player has scored from open play at Euro 2024. The French have had two own goals and a penalty from Mbappé.

— Ronaldo broke down in tears after seeing a penalty saved in extra time against Slovenia. He is playing in his record sixth European Championship and has yet to score. If he does, the 39-year-old forward would become the oldest goalscorer in the tournament’s history.

— Mbappe will have to wear a protective mask again after breaking his nose in France’s opening match against Austria. France coach Didier Deschamps said after the round of 16 win over Belgium that Mbappe could need to wear the mask for “months.”

— The match will be played exactly 18 years after the two nations met in the 2006 World Cup semi-finals, when Zinedine Zidane scored the winning goal from a penalty. Ronaldo played the entire game and the player of the match was Lilian Thuram, whose son Marcus is set to play for France in Hamburg.

Team News

— French midfielder Adrien Rabiot is suspended after receiving two yellow cards. Antoine Griezmann is likely to drop into central midfield to replace Rabiot, while Ousmane Dembélé could take over in attack.

— Portugal have no reported injury concerns, with all 26 players training on Wednesday. No players are suspended either.

— Mbappe is one of four French players who will miss the semi-finals if they receive another booking, if the team qualifies. This is also the case for Ronaldo and five other Portuguese players.

In numbers

— France have conceded just one goal at Euro 2024. That was a penalty taken by Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, whose first shot was saved by Mike Maignan before the French goalkeeper was adjudged to have come off his line too early.

— Mbappe, 25, has scored 48 goals for France. He still has a long way to go to catch Ronaldo, who holds the men’s record of 130 goals for the national team.

— This is the third consecutive meeting between the two teams in a European Championship. In 2021, the two teams agreed to a 2-2 draw in the group stage (Ronaldo scored two penalties) and Portugal won 1-0 in the final in 2016.

— Ronaldo, who will make a record 212 appearances for Portugal, has taken 20 shots without scoring at Euro 2024.

What they say

— “We have to admit that we are lacking talent in this area.” — Guy Stephan, assistant coach of the French team, on the team’s problems in front of goal.

— “This is Ronaldo’s last Euro. We have everything we need to give him this gift and we will do everything we can.” — Portuguese left-back Nuno Mendes.

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Euro 2024 AP: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024