France and Portugal continue their European Championship rivalry on Friday in a quarter-final match that will centre almost entirely on the two leaders, Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The last-eight match in Hamburg pits two of the most anticipated nations for Euro 2024 against two teams that have yet to fully impress in Germany.
Despite the fact that none of their players have scored a goal in open play, France has advanced to the sixth quarterfinal in the previous seven major events.
Les Bleus have scored only three goals in four games, one of which was a penalty by Mbappe and the other two coming from their own goals, including Jan Vertonghen’s, which helped them defeat Belgium 1-0 in the last 16.
Mbappe has been hampered by a fractured nose sustained in France’s opening encounter against Austria, forcing him to miss the goalless draw with the Netherlands.
He has not been at his best since his return, and the penalty he converted against Poland is his only goal in seven appearances at the Euros.
“I don’t think any of us have made enough of the fact that he broke his nose. It is not an excuse, but he was traumatised by the collision,” France assistant coach Guy Stephan said on Wednesday.
“It is not easy to play with a mask on, as he said. He had a bit of an exhausting end to the season. But Kylian is still Kylian. He has scored almost a goal a game for us since 2021.”
The other side of the coin for France is that they have only conceded one goal, a penalty by Poland’s Robert Lewandowski.
Meanwhile, Portugal advanced to this stage by defeating Slovenia in a penalty shootout following a goalless 120 minutes.
Goalkeeper Diogo Costa ended up being their hero, saving all three of Slovenia’s penalty attempts, but the game will also be remembered for Ronaldo’s tears when his chance was saved in extra time.
Portugal came from behind to defeat the Czech Republic 2-1 in their opening match and then dominated Turkey 3-0, so they have had fewer scoring troubles than France.
However, in their most recent group game, they were defeated 2-0 by Georgia, despite having a significantly different team.
This came after they had already secured first place in their group, but it means they have now gone more than four hours without finding the net.
Portugal must now aim to break through a resolute French defence, while Didier Deschamps, the coach of the 2022 World Cup runners-up, must find a substitute in his midfield for the suspended Adrien Rabiot.
Three years ago, both teams clashed in the group stage of the last Euros, with Portugal drawing 2-2 thanks to two penalties from Ronaldo.
