European Football Championship: Kolo Muani shoots France happily into the quarter-finals

Has Batman ever complained about how much sweat you get under your mask? Or Darth Vader, or Zorro? Nothing known. The real superhero Kylian Mbappé normally celebrates football without a mask, but at the European Championships he has to protect his nose, which was broken in the opening match, with oversized carbon glasses. “Absolute horror!” he complained before the round of 16 match against Belgium: “You can’t see well and you sweat.” Was he still able to fulfill his state mission and shoot France into the quarter-finals in Düsseldorf on Monday evening?

No, not Mbappé, but someone else: Randal Kolo Muani put the French through in the 85th minute with a deflected shot – officially the goal was counted as an own goal by Belgium’s central defender Jan Vertonghen. Another pretty poor game from the French, but even with a 1-0 win they can move into the quarter-finals.

When something bad happens to you, it can help to return to the scene of the incident as soon as possible to deal with the trauma. That’s what Mbappé did (the schedule required him to do so), because exactly two weeks earlier he had broken his nose in the Düsseldorf Arena during the 1-0 win against Austria. Mbappé had a hard time, though (mon dieu, that mask!), and only took his first shot on goal after just under an hour. But the outstanding French team can of course compensate for that. After being defeated by Switzerland in the round of 16 at the European Championships three years ago, they are once again among the best eight nations this time. The Belgians, coached by Domenico Tedesco, who recently reached the quarter-finals of a European Championship twice in a row, are heading home. “In the end, a crappy goal decided the outcome,” said Belgian goalkeeper Koen Casteels: “That’s why we’re very frustrated.”

“A new tournament begins with the round of 16,” said French national coach Didier Deschamps, who was not particularly impressed with his own performance in the preliminary round, suggesting that we would see a different France from the fourth game onwards. To this end, he first drew the numbers 7 (Antoine Griezmann), 10 (Mbappé) and 15 (Marcus Thuram) in the striker bingo – this coach has an incredible selection of top-class strikers.

The round of 16 offers a manageable spectacle – a kind of chess of the grandmasters

But that didn’t help much at first. France and Belgium only had a meager goal difference of 2:1 in their three preliminary round matches (both of them only finished second in their groups), and the goalless first half reflected that. A Belgian free kick from Kevin De Bruyne here, a French header from Thuram and a powerful shot from Aurelien Tchouameni there – that was all.

Many European Championship fans are already looking forward to the quarter-final between Germany and Spain next Friday as if it were an early final, but if you look at the world rankings, then at least on paper there is currently no hotter European duel than this one between second-placed France and third-placed Belgium. In the shadow of the leaders Argentina, the top dogs of continental football measured their strengths here – although at times this meant a manageable spectacle – a kind of chess between the grandmasters.

Of course the game became more fast-paced, and it had to be after the first half. The Belgians let the French do what they wanted, but they were increasingly waiting for counterattacks. Romelu Lukaku is a constant threat, and his teammate Lois Openada, the Leipzig player who was allowed to play from the start for the first time, was replaced by Orel Mangala after an hour.

De Bruyne almost shot the French out of the tournament shortly before the end, but the Frenchman Mike Maignan is one of the best goalkeepers at the European Championship. Almost in response, former Frankfurt player Kolo Muani, who came on for Thuram after an hour, shot past the Belgian Vertonghen and thus put the French into the quarter-finals and into late happiness.