France snatch Euro last 8 spot with late winner

France made only two changes following their draw against Poland, as Antoine Griezmann and Marcus Thuram joined face-masked Kylian Mbappe and Adrian Rabiot in attack.

Belgium, meanwhile, also made two alterations as Lois Openda joined Romelu Lukaku, Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne in attack while Yannick Carrasco was also recalled on the wing.

The game was evenly matched in the early exchanges, with Les Bleus having the most promising attacks but not clinical in front of goal.

Didier Deschamps’ charges gained momentum after the half-hour mark as Thuram had the biggest chance of the game up to that point after a cross by Jules Kounde but he guided a close-range header just wide.

Les Bleus had the upper hand towards the end of the first stanza but their bulk possession did not translate into clear chances, as the Red Devils were seemingly content with a nil-nil scoreline at half-time but needed to improve their attacking threat in the second stanza.

France upped their tempo from the interval as four minutes later Aurelien Tchouameni forced a save out of goalkeeper Koen Casteels.

Five minutes later, Mbappe showed Les Bleus’ intentions of going ahead clear with a focused curler that sailed slightly over the crossbar.

Just after the hour-mark, Deschamps brought on the fresh upfront of Randal Kolo Muani, who replaced Thuram.

The game opened up after that, as Belgium also had spaces on counter-attacks and with seven minutes left, De Bruyne almost broke the deadlock with a low curling shot on the edge of the box that forced shot-stopper Mike Maignan into an outstretched save.

With both sides sensing moments to potentially seal it with a decisive goal, Les Bleus’ persistence eventually prevailed five minutes before time after Muani’s shot at the near post took a nasty deflection and wrong-footed Casteels into the back of the net.

Domenico Tedesco’s men were spirited to force the game into extra-time but it was not to be, as France held on to a narrow win.