In the early morning of July 2, Beijing time, the round of 16 of the knockout round of the European Cup continued; France won the strong duel with Belgium on this night, Cristiano Ronaldo missed the stunner and penalty, Portugal and Slovenia fought until extra time without a win, and Diogo Costa saved three penalties in the penalty shootout, and Portugal advanced in danger. As a result, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland and England have secured the last eight places, with the remaining two places between the Netherlands, Romania, Austria and Turkey.
France 1:0 Belgium
The two teams aiming for the title had a mediocre performance in the group, with either France or Belgium finishing second in the group; The clash between the two teams is also seen as the most suspenseful matchup in the round of 16. However, the offensive battle that fans had been expecting before the game did not take place, and instead it was a tug-of-war of defense. At full-time, France had 19 shots on goal but only 2 on target, while Belgium had fewer chances with 5 shots on goal; The only two shots on target were also saved by Maignan. It wasn't until the 85th minute that substitute Muani had a flash of inspiration, he leaned on the defense in the penalty area and turned to shoot, the ball hit the veteran Vertonghen and bounced into the net, France was able to beat 1:0 and send Belgium home.
In this way, Belgium, ranked No. 3 in the world, has also pressed the pace of progress; As a team ranked at the top of the world rankings for a long time, Belgium continued the embarrassment of not having a title since 1930; Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku's golden generation of players are also over 30 years old, and Belgium's chances of continuing to break the title at major tournaments are dwindling.
Portugal 0:0 Slovenia (Penalty shootout 3:0)
In this European Cup, except for Germany and Spain, many championship teams have difficulty winning, and England won the tie and extra time to get the right to advance; France also beat Belgium by only one goal, and Italy was eliminated directly; Portugal is also in the same situation. Facing Slovenia in Group C, Portugal basically failed to penetrate Atletico Madrid's goalkeeper Oblak at half-time, and Ronaldo also missed a chance to kill in regulation time.
In extra time, Jota broke through to create a penalty, Ronaldo's penalty was still rejected by Oblak, and Ronaldo, who missed the penalty, was also unwilling to shed tears, he was afraid that Portugal's qualification would be ruined.
Fortunately, in the penalty shootout, goalkeeper Diogo Costa was like the Italian goalkeeper Toldo, who was possessed by the Italian goalkeeper Toldo, and staged a wonderful 3 consecutive saves, saving all the first 3 rounds of penalties from Slovenia; Ronaldo, B Fei and B Xi hit 3 consecutive rounds, Portugal eliminated Slovenia 3:0 and met France in the top 8; This is also another blockbuster matchup after Germany and Spain.