The last favorite to enter the competition, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal beat the Czech Republic at the last minute on Tuesday (2-1), while France, another tenor of this Euro 2024, is worried about its star Mbappé, injured in the nose on Monday against Austria.
Ronaldo, who is playing his sixth Euro, did not score, but at 39 he remains the most dangerous attacker in his team.
However, it was his compatriot Francisco Conceiçao, who entered as a Joker, who opened the doors of the Paradise of the round of 16 to his team, scoring like a fox on surfaces at the 90e+2 minute (2-1) of a match that the Portuguese largely dominated.
The Czechs had decided to oppose a low and compact block to Roberto Martinez’s men, and they almost succeeded. Completely against the flow of play, Slavia Prague midfielder Lukas Provod surprised the Portuguese goalkeeper with a long shot perfectly placed at mid-height, for the opening score (1-0, 62e).
The Portuguese, however, did not hesitate for long. On a new attack, Nuno Mendes headed a ball towards the goal. Goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek could only push it back… onto the shin of his defender Robin Hranac, who scored against his side (1-1, 69e). Before Conceiçao saved the Portuguese homeland.
Mbappé’s nose
Portugal finds itself second in its group behind Turkey, which won 3-1 late in the afternoon in Dortmund against Georgia, after a match of great intensity, open and terribly dispute.
With a post and a Turkish clearance on the line in added time, while the score was still 2-1, the men of Willy Sagnol and George Mikautadze, who had equalized at 1-1, did honor to their jersey for their first in the continental competition. The Turks scored their third goal in the 90the+7 minute, taking advantage of the fact that the Georgian goalkeeper had deserted his goal to try to equalize from a corner.
This meeting closes a first day of the Euro where all the favorites – England, Spain, Germany and France – won. The only real surprise is Belgium’s defeat against Slovakia on Monday (1-0), even if the Red Devils are not considered favorites this time.
France, although victorious over Austria 1-0, is worried after the broken nose of its captain Kylian Mbappé, with uncertain consequences.
In the evening, the French Football Federation (FFF) delayed a possible withdrawal of Mbappé for the second group match against the Dutch, in three days, contenting itself with saying that it remained “uncertain”.
Football and politics
“A new point will be made tomorrow [mercredi] », continued the FFF. However, the French striker will not be operated on after the clash, at the end of the match Monday evening in Düsseldorf, with Austrian defender Kevin Danso, which left him with a bloody and swollen nose.
The superstar does not seem to hold it against him, even using humor on social networks, asking his 14 million subscribers on X: “Any ideas for masks? », in reference to the one he will have to wear if he returns to the field.
In the other hot issue at the start of the Euro on the Blues side, after the speeches of Marcus Thuram and Kylian Mbappé on the legislative elections and the threat of a victory for the far right, the president of the French Federation Philippe Diallo said on Tuesday: “I guarantee the players freedom of expression […] It is not up to me to restrict the players, they encouraged them to go and vote and that is very good.”
And the manager added: “Some have gone further, I respect these positions. I am the head of a federation, not a party, I have no voting instructions to give. »
The Blues now have a meeting on Friday with the Netherlands, who also won their first meeting in Group D.