{"id":1357564,"date":"2024-07-01T19:16:08","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T18:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1357564"},"modified":"2024-09-01T23:01:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T22:01:24","slug":"france-1-0-belgium-stats-report-euro-2024-saliba","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/france-1-0-belgium-stats-report-euro-2024-saliba\/","title":{"rendered":"France 1-0 Belgium: Saliba and Co compensate for malfunctioning Les Bleus attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

France booked their place in the Euro 2024<\/a> quarter-finals with a narrow 1-0 win over Belgium<\/a> on Monday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like fellow co-favourites England,\u00a0Les Bleus\u00a0<\/em>have come under fire from their supporters at the tournament so far with just two goals scored in their three group games, while no French player scored from open play during that time; a Max Wober own goal delivered a 1-0 win over Austria in their first game, while Kylian Mbappe scored from the spot in the 1-1 draw against Poland following a goalless stalemate with the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

[dugoutvideo id=”eyJrZXkiOiIiLCJwIjoic3F1YXdrYSIsInBsIjoiS25BVzdIeXgifQ==” partner=”squawka”]<\/p>\n

But also like England, France found a way through the last 16 despite facing plenty of adversity.<\/p>\n

The less said about the first half in Dusseldorf the better, with the two sides managing just one shot on target and 0.38 xG between them. Naturally, France edged it, but neither team could establish any real dominance with both seemingly bending under the weight of pressure from their supporters and media.<\/p>\n

Things started to open up after the break, with both sides trading decent chances. Koen Casteels was forced into a fingertip save from Aurelien Tchouameni early into the second half, while Romelu Lukaku was denied by Mike Maignan at the other end amid a flurry of half-chances and nearly moments.<\/p>\n

But it was France who finally broke the deadlock in the 85th minute, working the ball from left to right and getting it to Randal Kolo Muani. The PSG man turned inside the box and unleashed a shot toward Casteels, who was wrong-footed by a deflection from Jan Vertonghen, only able to watch the ball go into his net as he dived the wrong way.<\/p>\n

The goal was marked down as a Vertonghen own goal which, of course, means we still haven’t seen an open-play goal from a French player at this tournament. Incredible from a side with immense attacking talents like Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Marcus Thuram.<\/p>\n

\n

France have scored three goals at #EURO2024<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u26bd\ufe0f Own Goal
\u26bd\ufe0f Penalty
\u26bd\ufe0f Own Goal<\/p>\n

They won't care. ?#FRABEL<\/a><\/p>\n

— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) July 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n