‘He makes a difference’: Maignan the shoot-out hero as France edge Croatia

France produced a great attacking performance to overturn a two-goal deficit against Croatia and level their Nations League tie on Sunday but it was keeper Mike Maignan who stole the spotlight with his penalty heroics in a 5-4 shoot-out victory.

Maignan made two saves and saw one Croatian attempt fly over the bar to maintain his impressive record on penalties with France, becoming the only France keeper to win two shoot-outs.

“We know that with Mike, we start a shoot-out with an advantage. He makes a difference,” captain Kylian Mbappe said.

Maignan was on the bench when France lost the 2022 World Cup final to Argentina on penalties, with keeper Hugo Lloris unable to make a save in the shoot-out.

Sunday's game was a breath of fresh air for Maignan, who has been struggling with Milan lately.

“The goal is big so the first thing is to take as much space as possible on the line,” he said. “Then it's a psychological battle with the shooter, you have to get into their head.”

France face Spain, who also went through on penalties against the Netherlands on Sunday, in the Nations League semifinals in Stuttgart on June 5. 

Les Bleus overturned a two-goal deficit at Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shoot-out in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semifinals against Spain.

Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split on Thursday.

France had a total of 22 chances while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. 

Germany squandered a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 against Italy to earn a nerve-racking 5-4 aggregate victory and place in the last four.

The Germans shot out of the blocks and played their best first half in more than a decade with 16 efforts towards goal, Joshua Kimmich opening their account with a 30th minute penalty.

They then caught Italian keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and the entire defence napping with a quickly taken Joshua Kimmich corner for unmarked Jamal Musiala to slot in their second in the 36th minute.

Tim Kleindienst added a third on the stroke of half time.

It was a German mistake, however, that launched Italy's comeback and allowed Moise Kean to cut the deficit four minutes after the restart. With Germany a shadow of their earlier selves, Kean then beat defender Jonathan Tah in the 69th to make it 3-2.

Italy drew on the night with Giacomo Raspadori's stoppage-time penalty but could not find another goal to level the tie on aggregate as Germany prepare to face either Portugal in June.

Spain claimed a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win over the Netherlands at home after the second leg of their thrilling contest ended 3-3 to leave the tie level 5-5 on aggregate.

Both sides missed their fourth penalties, but the decisive blow was landed in the sixth round when the Netherlands' Donyell Malen saw his attempt saved by Spain keeper Unai Simon, allowing Pedri to convert and secure the win.

The hosts grabbed an early lead after Jan Paul van Hecke brought down Mikel Oyarzabal, who calmly converted the resulting penalty in the eighth minute.

The situation was reversed at the start of the second half as Spain's Robin Le Normand fouled Memphis Depay, who converted with ease from the penalty spot to level the score for the Dutch.

Spain regained the lead in the 67th minute through a header by Oyarzabal after a counterattack, but the Netherlands equalised in the 79th with Ian Maatsen's powerful strike, sending the match to extra time.

Spain regained the lead 13 minutes into extra time with a stunning left-footed strike from Lamine Yamal, but four minutes into the second period, Xavi Simons equalised for the Dutch from the penalty spot after a foul by Simon, sending the match to penalties.

Portugal's Francisco Trincao came off the bench to score twice and Cristiano Ronaldo also netted as they beat Denmark 5-2 after extra time on Sunday for a 5-3 aggregate win.

Reuters

Uefa Nations League quarterfinal second legs

Sunday:

• Spain 3 Netherlands 3
• Aggregate 5-5, Spain won 5-4 on penalties
• Portugal 5 Denmark 2
• Portugal won 5-3 on aggregate
• Germany 3 Italy 3
• Germany won 5-4 on aggregate
• France 2 Croatia 0
• Aggregate 2 — 2, France won on 5-4 on penalties

Promotion relegation playoffs

Sunday:

• Belgium 3 Ukraine 0
• Belgium won 4-3 on aggregate
• Republic of Ireland 2 Bulgaria 1
• Ireland won 4-2 on aggregate
• Slovenia 1 Slovakia 1
• Slovenia won 1-0 on aggregate
• Serbia 2 Austria 0
• Serbia won 3-1 on aggregate
• Scotland 0 Greece 3
• Greece won 3-1 on aggregate
• Iceland 1 Kosovo 3
• Kosovo won 5-2 on aggregate
• Hungary 0 Türkiye 3
• Türkiye won 6-1 on aggregate
• Georgia 6 Armenia 1
• Georgia won 9-1 on aggregate

Semifinals

June 4:

• Germany v Portugal

June 5:

• Spain v France