Euro 2024 dream ends for Portugal

Following a disappointing 120 minutes in Hamburg, the drama of spot-kicks saw Joao Felix miss with his attempt, as Theo Hernandez kept his composure to fire in the decisive effort.

Bruno Fernandes did not take part in the penalties, after scoring one against Slovenia in the previous round, after he was substituted, while Diogo Dalot, who netted for United in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final shootout with Coventry City, was not introduced off the bench.

It means the first semi-final is set, with Spain taking on France on Tuesday, and the other two quarter-finals, England versus Switzerland and Turkey versus the Netherlands, take place on Saturday,

Fernandes was bright from the outset, even if his corners perhaps were not as consistently accurate as usual, and he mustered a shot that deflected wide after 16 minutes of cagey football.

Our no.8, wearing the same jersey for his country, was also granted a rare chance to take a free-kick for Portugal, with Cristiano Ronaldo stepping aside. However, his effort drifted off target without forcing a save out of Mike Maignan.

Much of his most impressive work was in winning possession and helping in all areas of the pitch, particularly when stealing the ball away from Antoine Griezmann as the France man was about to produce an effort on goal.

Although often stationed on the left of midfield, he popped up everywhere in following coach Roberto Martinez's instructions..

The best chance of the opening hour or so fell to Bruno but his shot was kept out by the strong right hand of Maignan, following a dart by the United midfielder into the box. In the same passage of play, he teed up Joao Cancelo for a shot that went wide.

Suddenly, the game opened up out of nowhere with Vitinha forcing another stop out of Maignan before Randal Kolo Muani and Eduardo Camavinga spurned excellent openings for Les Bleus. Lively substitute Ousmane Dembele narrowly flashed a drive the wrong side of the far post but it remained goalless.

Fernandes was surprisingly withdrawn in the 75th minute and there was no sign of Dalot from the bench as the game drifted into extra time. Ronaldo skied his shot when set up by Francisco Conceicao and Rafael Leao had an effort blocked but the first period then meandered to a close. After the short break, Felix headed into the side-netting and the final attempt, from Nuno Mendes, forced another save out of Maignan.

The penalty shootout featured only one miss, from Felix, who hit a post with his attempt, as Hernandez stepped up to send Les Bleus through.

Earlier in the day, Spain defeated Germany 2-1 after extra time.

Dani Olmo's well-taken opener was cancelled out by Florian Wirtz in the 89th minute, latching onto Joshua Kimmich's excellent back-post header. The hosts were reprieved, only to be knocked out in the 119th minute, by Mikel Merino's header, applied to Olmo's cross. There was still time for Dani Carvajal to be shown a second yellow card but it failed to take the gloss of a fabulous win for Spain.

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