Portugal, First Team to Reach Euro 2016 Semi-Finals

The Portuguese national football team, by winning in a penalty shootout against Poland, becomes the first team to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2016. The match ended 1-1 in regular time, with Robert Lewandowski scoring for Poland and Renato Sanchez for Portugal. Lewandowski broke his goal drought in Euro 2016 on a night when his team concluded their campaign in the tournament. The 18-year-old Sanchez is the third youngest goalscorer in the history of the tournament and the youngest scorer in the knockout stage. He has joined Bayern Munich from Benfica. Renato was named the man of the match at the end of the game. In the penalty shootout, Portugal scored all five of their penalties taken by Cristiano Ronaldo, Renato Sanchez, Joao Moutinho, Nani, and Quaresma. Robert Lewandowski, Arkadiusz Milik, and Kamil Glik managed to score their penalties for Poland, but Blaszczykowski's shot did not find the net. This arrangement in the penalty takers for Poland was also noted in their previous game, where they eliminated Switzerland. In that match, these four scored their penalties, and the fifth was Krichowiak, who scored the qualifying penalty. Now, Portugal, under the management of Fernando Santos, will face the winner of the match between Wales and Belgium for a place in the final. Wales and Belgium were also in the same group during the qualifiers. The Portuguese have reached the semi-finals of the European Championship without winning any match in 90 minutes so far. On the other side of the bracket, four teams are fighting for a place in the final. A classic football battle will take place between Germany and Italy. The host nation, France, will face the surprise team Iceland, which managed to eliminate the Netherlands in the qualifiers, caused Austria's exit in the group stage, and created a historic result by signing England's exit from Euro 2016 in the knockout stage. In the top scorers' table, Gareth Bale from Wales, Alvaro Morata from Spain, and Antoine Griezmann from France each have three goals. All three teams are still in the tournament, and there is fierce competition for the top scorer title among these players. Eleven players with two goals are behind them, of which only six can hope to score the next goal. The other five are not in this position due to their team's elimination. Today, Friday, the match between Wales and Belgium will be officiated by Slovenian referee Damir Skomina.