Spain defeated France 2-1 in the Euro 2024 semifinals on Tuesday in Munich, advancing to Sunday’s final against England or the Netherlands.
France took the lead within 10 minutes, but Spain responded with two goals in quick succession just 15 minutes later to take the lead they’d never surrender. Spain’s 16-year-old phenom Lamine Yamal scored a stunning long-distance goal as the equalizer in the 21st minute, with Dani Olmo finding the back of the net in the 25th.
"I'm very happy to have made it to the final," Yamal told reporters after the match. "Now the most important thing is to win it. We were in a difficult moment, you wouldn't expect a goal so soon. I wanted to put it in where it went in."
Spain has won all six games at Euro 2024 and is chasing its fourth European championship, most recently winning consecutive tournaments in 2008 and 2012.
"Spain proved tonight that they are a very good team," France manager Didier Deschamps said after the loss. "We were fortunate to open the scoring, but they caused us problems because they were superior in terms of control."
Sunday’s final will be played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
Here's how Tuesday's action unfolded:
Spain held on for the 2-1 win over France in the Euro 2024 semifinals, advancing to Sunday’s final against the winner of the England-Netherlands match Wednesday.
Lamine Yamal’s fantastic goal in the first half gave Spain the equalizer, with Dani Olmo putting the team ahead minutes later.
Spain's 16-year-old Lamine Yamal was given a yellow card in the 91st minute for a tackle on Theo Hernandez, minutes after France's Eduardo Camavinga saw yellow for a challenge on Marc Cucurella.
Yamal and Nico Williams came off in a double substitution in the 94th minute as Spain tries to see out the five minutes of stoppage team with a 2-1 lead.
France brought on the nation's all-time leading scorer Olivier Giroud in the 78th minute, replacing Ousmane Dembele with Spain still ahead 2-1.
Giroud, 37, has 57 goals for the national team since his debut in 2011.
France made three substitutions in the 63rd minute, switching to more offensive-minded lineup with N'Golo Kante and Adrien Rabiot coming off:
Both teams have threatened through the first 10 minutes of the second half with Spain holding a 2-1 lead in this Euro 2024 semifinal.
Spain made the game's first substitution in the 57th minute, removing 38-year-old right back Jesus Navas for Daniel Vivian.
Spain heads into halftime with a 2-1 lead after an action-packed first half that featured three goals in the first 25 minutes. France opened the scoring in the eighth minute on Randal Kolo Muani's header but Spain answered with goals in the 21st minute (Lamine Yamal) and 25th minutes (Dani Olmo) to go ahead.
Spain went ahead with what was initially ruled an own-goal off France defender Jules Kounde, with Dani Olmo eventually getting credit for the goal having smashed a shot across the face of goal in the 25th minute.
After falling behind in the first 10 minutes, Spain surged back to take the lead with goals in the 21st and 25th minutes.
Spain's teenage phenom Lamine Yamal scored a picture-perfect curling goal from outside the penalty area to tie the game, into the far corner beyond France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
The youngest player in European championship history – and now the youngest goalscorer – the 16-year-old Yamal had three assists in Spain's first five games of the tournament.
Yamal, who turns 17 on Saturday, played 37 league games for Barcelona in the 2023-24 campaign, his first full season with the senior team.
Randal Kolo Muani scored a header off a cross from Kylian Mbappe to give France a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.
The 25-year-old Kolo Muani's goal came after a period of Spanish pressure and was desperately needed for a France team that has struggled to score in this tournament.
The Euro 2024 semifinal between Spain and France has officially kicked off in Munich, with the winner moving on to Sunday's final.
Spain got the ball into some dangerous areas in the first few minutes of the game, coming close with Fabián Ruiz failing to convert a free header on a curling cross in from 16-year-old Lamine Yamal in the fifth minute.
Spain will be without three of its top players for the semifinal in Pedri (injured), Dani Carvajal (suspended) and Robin Le Normand (suspended).
Spain: Unai Simon; Jesus Navas, Nacho, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Rodri, Fabian Ruiz; Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams; Alvaro Morata (c).
France: Mike Maignan; Jules Kounde, Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba, Theo Hernandez; N'Golo Kante, Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembele, Randal Kolo Muani, Kylian Mbappe (c)
Odds via BetMGM
Regular time result:
To advance:
Right back Dani Carvajal is missing the semifinal due to suspension, pushing 38-year-old Jesus Navas into a starting role for Spain.
Navas made his international debut in 2009 and won the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 with Spain, playing his club football for Sevilla and Manchester City. He recently signed a "lifetime" contract with Sevilla, his boyhood club.
France coach Didier Deschamps is putting his faith in Kylian Mbappe finding form in Tuesday’s semifinal against Spain despite struggling through the tournament.
Mbappe’s broken nose, suffered at the start of Euro 2024, means he has to wear a mask but even with the protection he looked to struggle after a painful blow from a ball to the side of his face against Portugal, was not involved as much as he had been before and played without his usual swagger.
Deschamps said the loss of form from Mbappe, whose lone goal at the tournament was a penalty against Poland in the group stage, was understandable given several setbacks in the last weeks.
“It's not just linked to the last match, but everything he had to deal with before, with a back problem at the end of the league season, the trauma he had (to his nose). He could have been forced out of the tournament,” Deschamps told reporters.
– Reuters
The youngest player in Euro history, Spain’s Lamine Yamal has been one of the most exciting players at this tournament, picking up three assists as his team has won all five games en route to the semifinals.
France’s Adrien Rabiot told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s game that keeping Yamal uncomfortable would be a key to success.
“We saw that he was a player who knew how to handle pressure very well,” Rabiot said. “It will be up to us to put the pressure on him above all, not to let him feel comfortable and to show him that to play in a Euro final, he will have to do much more than what he has done so far.”
While Spain have looked in imperious form in their five straight wins in Germany, goal-shy France have come under fire from fans and pundits for some unimpressive performances and have reached the last four without scoring a goal in open play.
Spain manager Luis De la Fuente said that he doesn't think that watching France is "boring", but acknowledged that Spain have a different approach to the game under his command.
"We all try to build a gameplan that will help you win. It comes that our model is all about doing that through a beautiful spectacle," he told a press conference.
"Spain are an eye-catching team, I won't deny that, it's our DNA, but in the end, here it's about winning. We want to play, but we want to be practical.”
– Reuters
Spain’s 21-year-old midfield star Pedri suffered a knee injury on a hard challenge by Tony Kroos in the quarterfinal win against Germany, which brought his tournament to a premature end.
The injury occurred less than 10 minutes into the match and Kroos, who retired from the game after the loss, apologized to Pedri in an Instagram post – to which Pedri responded.
"Thank you Toni Kroos for your message,” Pedri said. "It's football and things like that happen. Your career and history will stand forever."
French midfielder Adrien Rabiot said coach Didier Deschamps had been forced to keep his tactical plans close to his chest, even with his own players, because they were leaking out before matches at the European Championship.
Deschamps was reported to have changed both the line-up and the tactical approach just hours before their quarter-final win over Portugal last Friday and also did not tell the players the line-up until they were on the bus on the way to the stadium.
"Inevitably, there is collateral damage. It's difficult for the coach, when he's trying to implement his strategy, because the information leaks out before training is barely over,” Rabiot told reporters at Monday’s press conference ahead of France’s semifinal with Spain. “It is not nice to see that when you really worked hard on something, that at the end of the session, the media have already caught wind of it.”
– Reuters
The final for Euro 2024 will be played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Sunday, July 14. The venue previously hosted the 2006 World Cup final (Italy defeated France) and 2015 UEFA Champions League final.
The Euro 2024 final is scheduled for Sunday, July 14 at 3 p.m. ET in Berlin.
Contributing: Reuters
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