Spain 2-1 France: La Roja fight back to reach final

Spain recovered from a goal down to edge past France and book their place in the EURO 2024 final.

Match in brief: Spain's winning run continues

This heavyweight match-up pitted the tournament's joint-highest goalscorers against the lowest scorers left in the competition, so it came as little surprise that in-form Spain went closest to taking an early lead. Lamine Yamal – the youngest-ever player to appear in a EURO or FIFA World Cup semi-final – delivered an exquisite ball towards the far post, but Fabián Ruiz was unable to steer his header on target.

Undeterred, France responded with the opening goal of the game just four minutes later. Kylian Mbappé collected the ball on the left side of the penalty area before lifting a tantalising cross onto the head of Randal Kolo Muani, who nodded in Les Bleus' fourth goal of the tournament from close range. Just over a quarter of an hour later, however, Spain had not only restored parity but completed the turnaround.

After picking up the ball outside the France penalty box, Yamal drew Spain level with a glorious curling finish to become the youngest goalscorer in EURO history. Dani Olmo – who scored one and assisted another against Germany in the quarter-finals – then struck again four minutes after Yamal's strike, his low drive deflecting off defender Jules Koundé on its way past goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

Maignan had to be on his toes to deny Nico Williams an open goal not long after the restart, darting off his line to dispossess the forward with a perfectly-timed sliding challenge. France remained a threat at the other end, though, and Unai Simón needed to stick out a strong left arm to keep out Ousmane Dembélé's shot from a tight angle just before the hour mark.

There were to be few other clear-cut openings for the EURO 2016 finalists. Theo Hernández spurned their best chance to equalise with a quarter of an hour remaining, blazing over the crossbar after connecting with a loose ball inside the area. Mbappé also went close with a fizzing drive that evaded the bar, but there was no late reprieve for Didier Deschamps' team as Spain held on to reach their fifth EURO showpiece.