Substitute Randal Kolo Muani‘s shot forced an own goal five minutes from time to give France a nervy but deserved 1-0 Euro 2024 round-of-16 win over a disappointing Belgium on Monday.
France made most of the running in a cagey game but were reckless with their finishing, until a nice combination of passes, finished off by N’Golo Kanté, finally created space for Kolo Muani to bundle his shot in off the leg of Jan Vertonghen.
France will now meet the winner of Monday’s match between Portugal and Slovenia in the quarterfinals in Hamburg on Friday.
“We’re enjoying this, we pushed hard, we had a lot of attempts but we were missing the target,” Kolo Muani said after the match. “I got lucky [on the goal]. The coach had told me to bring my energy … to bring danger with my speed. I tried to bring some freshness to the game.”
It was a fittingly scruffy decider for an underwhelming game and…
