Cristiano Ronaldo was licking his chops in anticipation of becoming the highest goalscorer in international men’s football, but Belgium extended his wait by edging past defending champions Portugal 1-0 in the round of 16 in Seville. Fernando Santos’ side did pierce through the Belgian defence in the first half through Diogo Jota and a Ronaldo free-kick, but the Belgians gained the upper hand courtesy a Thorgan Hazard strike in the 42nd minute.

Roberto Martinez lost Kevin De Bruyne to an injury soon after the second half went underway, but his side managed to hold on to the advantage till the referee’s full-time whistle. The defending champs did go the extra yard to equalise through a Ruben Dias header and a Raphael Guerreiro strike hitting the post, but fortune favoured the Red Devils.

“In these kinds of games you have to grab your chances with both hands. And voila! The goalkeeper expected me to choose the other corner, so the ball went in. I am happy I could score for my country,” Thorgan Hazard, who was adjudged Star of the Match, said after the game.

The Red Devils now face Italy in the quarterfinals on July 3 at the Allianz Arena, and Thibaut Courtois is well aware of the challenges involved. “I didn't have a lot of work to do in the previous three games but I knew that wasn't going to be the case against Portugal. I am proud of my team-mates; they defended very well. Italy will be difficult too, but we have proved today that we are ready for it,” he said after the match.

The Red Devils have won 23 of their 27 games, keeping six clean sheets in their last eight Euro encounters. On the other hand, Roberto Mancini's Italy are on a 31-game unbeaten run.

Czechmate for the Dutch

When Ruud Van Nistelroy had cautioned his side against taking Czech Republic lightly, he probably meant every word of it. The Czechs had beaten the Dutch in both home and away games in the Euro 2016 qualification, and also registered a come-from-behind victory in the group stage of the 2004 edition. And last night, history repeated itself as Tomas Holes and Patrik Schick scored second-half goals to knock Frank De Boer's side out, registering a 2-0 victory in Budapest.

Holes powered home a 68th-minute opener after being set up by Tomas Kalas, as the Dutch watched on hopelessly in their own penalty area. Schick made sure of the Czechs’ surprise success with a close-range finish 10 minutes from fulltime, his fourth goal of the tournament, in front of a capacity crowd that provided a deafening wall of noise for most of an absorbing last-16 contest.

“I mainly have defensive tasks in the game, and sometimes I use that to my advantage because defenders don't mark me. I am happy that I played well tonight,” Holes said after the game.

The Dutch imploded after Matthijs de Ligt was sent off for a cynical handball 10 minutes into the second half. De Ligt was sent off after a VAR review by Russian referee Sergei Karasev after punching away the ball as he tumbled to the ground in a tussle with Schick. “Of course, it feels bad. We basically lost because of what I did. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have let the ball bounce. I thought we had the game under control. We had a few chances, particularly in the first half. I didn’t have the feeling that they created lots of chances either. But the red card obviously made the difference,” De Ligt said after the game.

The Czechs are now through to a quarterfinal clash with Denmark in Baku on Saturday, turning around their Euro 2020 fortunes having only reached the knockout phase after finishing third in their group.

The Dutch could have gone ahead before being reduced to 10 men, with fullbacks Denzel Dumfries and Patrick van Aanholt creating several chances with their overlapping runs.

Once De Ligt was dismissed, the Czechs assumed control and the goal came as the Dutch defence was caught static by a set piece that saw Kalas climb above the defence to head back for Holes to score, with veteran Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg caught in no man’s land. “It was an off day, we didn’t handle the pressure in midfield and couldn’t create our own space,” said Netherlands captain Giorgino Wijnaldum.

Today's matches:

Croatia vs Spain (9:30 pm IST)
Venue: Parken Stadium

France vs Switzerland (12:30 am IST, Tuesday)
Venue: National Arena