The final two Group D games of Euro 2024 began simultaneously in Germany this afternoon.
In Dortmund, where victory guaranteed France first place in the group against an already stacked Poland, the Gauls went no further than a draw. The goals were scored in the same way. Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring from the penalty spot, and in the 56th minute Robert Lewandowski also equalized from 11 meters, 23 minutes after the French goal.
Thus, France cannot come out on top and is only guaranteed second place.
However, the biggest surprise was in store for Austria-Netherlands. In a game that, based on the result in Dortmund, could have helped one of the teams take first place, it was the Austrians who managed to take advantage of the France-Poland outcome and took on the status of the big surprise of the competition.
Fans were still seated in the Berlin stadium when Dutchman Donyell Malen scored another Euro 2024 own goal in the 6th minute. The Netherlands only responded early in the second half through Cody Gapko.
There were a lot of emotions in the second half. Romano Schmid made the score 2:1 in favor of the Austrians after just an hour of play. The answer came only in the 75th minute thanks to a Memphis goal. Just as the game was heading towards a 2-2 draw, Austrian captain Marcel Sabitzer attacked the sleeping defense and scored the winning goal.
With this result, Portugal know they can meet France in the quarter-finals if both teams progress through the round of 16.
Group accounts:
1- Austria
2- France
3- Netherlands (next stage as one of the best third parties)
4- Poland