France handed defending UEFA Nations League champions Portugal a rare defeat on Saturday, winning 1-0 in Lisbon.
N’Golo Kante’s second half strike helped the world champions to reach the competition’s final four at the expense of the holders.
Anthony Martial missed three clear-cut first half chances for France before Kante scored only his second international goal in the 54th minute.
It was his first since 2016, and it helped to end Portugal’s run of five successive clean sheets.
World champions France went top of Group A3 with 13 points from five games, three ahead of Portugal and with the better head-to-head record to give them an unassailable lead.
It was only Portugal’s second defeat since the 2018 World Cup.
“Given the quality of the opposition, it’s of course one of our best performances of recent times,” France coach Didier Deschamps said of Portugal, who are the European champions.
“We deserved the win and we’ve fulfilled our objective of finishing top. I’m very proud of the players. They proved tonight that France are still a great team.”
Antoine Griezmann set up Martial’s first chance in the 12th minute with a slide-rule pass but Portugal’s excellent goalkeeper Rui Patricio blocked it at point-blank range.
Martial then diverted Adrien Rabiot’s acrobatic effort onto the bar with his head and saw another effort brilliantly saved at close range by Patricio from Lucas Hernandez’s cross.
At the other end, Cristiano Ronaldo forced a diving save from France captain Hugo Lloris and also wasted a free-kick which he drove straight into the wall.
France finally broke through just as Portugal appeared to be imposing themselves.
Griezmann slipped another ball through to Rabiot whose shot was parried by Patricio and Kante was on hand to score from the rebound.
Portugal had three chances go begging in the same attack, including a Jose Fonte header against the post.
Lloris made a one-handed save to parry a raking drive from Joao Moutinho, who then saw his cross evade three forwards as France held out.
“I don’t know what went wrong in the first half, it wasn’t what I expected but it was my responsibility,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos.
“We were better in the second half but then conceded the goal which settled the game… we had three or four chances to equalise.”
Also, Spain captain Sergio Ramos missed two penalty kicks as Switzerland drew 1-1 with them in the UEFA Nations League on Saturday.
Gerard Moreno came off the bench to grab a late equaliser for them to earn the draw.
The result relegated Switzerland and Spain lost top spot in Group A4 to Germany, who earned a 3-1 win over Ukraine and lead the standings with nine points.
Spain are second with eight points and must win Tuesday’s showdown at home to Joachim Loew’s side in order to progress to the final four.
Ramos, who also became the most capped European player of all time, had scored all of his previous 25 penalty kicks.
But he was thwarted when Yann Sommer guessed the right way and repelled his penalty kick in the 58th minute to preserve Switzerland’s lead.
The hosts had taken the lead in the 23rd minute through a brilliant strike on the half volley from Remo Frueler.
They could have doubled their advantage in the second half when Haris Seferovic rounded goalkeeper Unai Simon.
But Ramos came to his side’s rescue and got back to clear the shot off the line.
Spain then earned a second penalty kick in the 79th minute which led to Swiss defender Nico Elvedi being sent off for a second booking.
However, Ramos was again outwitted by Sommer, who could not be fooled by the defender’s chipped ‘Panenka’ penalty kick and caught the ball.
It is the first time Spain have missed two penalty kicks in one match.
Substitute Moreno saved Ramos’ blushes in the 89th minute, lashing home a cross from Sergio Reguilon as Spain finally found a way past Sommer.
This was after firing 20 shots at goal to Switzerland’s seven.
“Football is like this, it’s a marvellous sport but sometimes it’s very unfair,” said Spain coach Luis Enrique.
“We were lacking a bit of freshness but I think we played well even though we couldn’t do the most difficult thing, which is to score.
“We deserved to win for our first half performance and for how we played in the second.”
