France, led by Arsenal’s William Saliba, defeated Portugal on penalties to secure their spot in the Euro 2024 semi-finals.
Saliba, who has possibly been Arsenal’s finest player at Euro 2024, excelled once more as France maintained a clean sheet.as a scoreless draw that sent the match into extra time and penalties, Portugal had to concede as Joao Felix missed their pivotal penalty kιck.
Portugal has a lot of creative quality in their squad, but they have not allowed a goal from open play in five games throughout the tournament. France, on the other hand, have shown to be a defensively solid team once more.Arsenal supporters were thrilled with how their centre back handled the strain of taking on one of the greatest players of all time when Cristiano Ronaldo and Saliba squared off.William Saliba easily handles Cristiano Ronaldo, much to the joy of Arsenal supporters.
Ronaldo had another challenging game, clearly showing his age, but Saliba showed incredible poise to make it difficult for him.This was demonstrated in the 34th minute when Ronaldo and Saliba engaged in a footrace for the ball. However, Saliba outran Ronaldo physically and left the former Real Madrid star for deаd as he dribbled the ball out.”Saliba is a monster,” an Arsenal supporter wrote on X.“Ronaldo is gonna see Saliba in his nightmares tonight,” another addedFans also pointed out that France manager Didier Deschamps was wrong for failing to trust Saliba until this tournament, having criticised him before.“I bet Didier Deschamps must be eating his words. 
Saying Saliba isn’t the best French centre half. How ironically he’s played every game and today had a solid performance keeping Ronaldo quiet,” one fan pointed out.“Thats how good he is. Deschamps underrated him initially but later found out he is the best out of all he has in the defence and he has delivered in all matches he has played so far. Well done Saliba. We are proud of you,” another stated.Supporters also pointed out that Saliba had an easier time keeping Ronaldo quiet because he was playing poorly.Regarding Saliba’s performance against the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, one fan said, “I’m all for Saliba hype, but every CB this tournament has done that.”