Shootout win for ‘defensive’ Deschamps side as Ronaldo's shoot-out coin toss choice helps Les Bleus – Post-match reaction from Portugal’s elimination at the hands of France in Hamburg

Macdara Ferris reports from the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg

Even though it was a European Championship quarter-final between two heavy weight hitters in Hamburg, it was one of those nights when the prospect of another half an hour of similar scoreless stodgy play just wasn’t appealing. 

At least after extra-time we did have the drama of what was a super high quality penalty shootout with France prevailing 5-3 on penalties as they were faultless from 12 yards.

They were helped by another Ronaldo penalty error in this Euros – this one after the coin toss when he decided to go second in the shoot-out reducing the chances of his team winning as the team going first has a 55/45 advantage.

His manager Robert Martinez had made an error by leaving the hapless Ronaldo on the pitch for so long – and by not giving him instructions to go first in the shootout if the decision was available to him.

Afterwards Dechamps was asked about his approach to the game and with a wry smile did say “I’m a head coach who is defensive. Of course we are solid and that is essential in a major competition. When you don’t score a lot, it is better to not let goals be scored against you.

“We need to score more goals. When you do that you can manage things better. We are at the mercy of our opponent if we don’t score. 

“It was a tough game against a tough Portugal side,” said the 55-year-old manager. “They had more ball possession but we are now in the semi. For me, there is pride in my players.”

He praised his “monumental” goalkeeper Mike Magnian who saved from Bruno Fernandes and Vitinho in open play. He didn’t make a shootout save but Joao Felix hitting the post meant his team went through once  Theo Hernandez scored the fifth French spot kick.

France had lost their last three penalty shoot-outs, the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin and in the two most recent major tournaments – to Switzerland in the EURO 2020 round of 16 and the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina.

Their last shootout win was at the quarter-final stage en-route to winning the 1998 World Cup so a happy omen maybe. Deschamps smiled when that was put to him in the press conference saying “I was there” after he played in that shoot-out win over Italy in the Stade de France.

For this set of spot kicks he said he looked for players in the shootout who had the experience.

“How do they feel? I know who is more at ease compared with others. You need to be calm, composed. For those who know how to shoot, the goalkeeper doesn't have much chance. Some prefer to be third. You cannot force someone to shoot first.”

It was substitute Ousmane Dembélé who walked up first to take a shoot-out penalty. It said a lot about the game that a player introduced in the 67th minute won the player of the match award.

“Players come in and make a difference like him,” said Deschamps about the PSG man. “He played very well. He wanted to run and there was fatigue on the other side and he has capacity to make a difference. He had several shots.”

Dembele himself said the Les Bleus “were so confident before the shoot-out. The final that we lost in the World Cup helped us. I took the decision to go first. Every player has to decide for themselves.

“We’ve had difficult matches in the Euros but we’ve got to the semi-final and the atmosphere is good. From a defensive point of view, we did a great job and were solid.”

For Portugal boss Roberto Martinez, he felt his team should have gone through to face Spain in next week’s semi-final. “We created a lot of chances. We had 63% possession. We had 11 corners to 4 so I said we deserved to win.

“In the shootout the ball hits the post and goes out and that made all the difference. Luck and lack thereof is part of football and it goes in and out.”

Those fine margins mean so much in a shoot-out and his team going second didn’t help in this situation but in truth they should have won the match in either 90 or 120 minutes. He didn’t solve the Ronaldo situation and ultimately Martinez and Portugal paid the price.