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4 months ago
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Antoine Griezmann has reacted angrily to French media posting videos of Didier Deschamps' team practicing penalties ahead of their clash with Spain.
Despite entering Euro 2024 as the pre-tournament favourites, France were far from their all-conquering best in the group stage.
A narrow victory over Austria was followed by draws with the Netherlands and Poland that saw them qualify second from Group D to set up a clash with rivals Belgium.
Once again Les Bleus flattered to deceive in their round of 16 fixture, edging past their opponents courtesy of a 85th-minute own-goal from Jan Vertonghen.
Portugal in the quarter-finals would prove a yet sterner test, but once more the 2018 World Cup winners found a way to win, netting all five of their penalties following a goalless draw in Hamburg.
A French broadcaster shared videos of France players practicing penalties ahead of their Euro 2024 semi-final
The decision to share what could prove to be important information before the game did not go down well with Antoine Griezmann
The 33-year-old sarcastically replied to the video on X, thanking them for sharing the footgae
The potential for another knockout game to be decided by spot kicks has clearly not been lost on Deschamps, as footage emerged of his side drilling penalties in the lead-up to Tuesday's semi-final clash.
French broadcaster RMC Sport shared a video of the practice on X, displaying the names of each taker on screen as they stepped up from twelve yards.
The decision sparked fury from Griezmann as he sarcastically replied: 'Well great! Thanks for the info!'.
The Atletico Madrid star's tweet quickly racked up more than 49,000 likes on the platform formerly known as Twitter, while fans questioned why the clips had been published in the first place.
Despite featuring in all of France's games at the tournament so far, reports suggest the 33-year-old will not start as Les Bleus move to within one game of a major tournament final.
Meanwhile, unlike their opponents at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday, Spain have yet to endure a penalty shootout at Euro 2024.
France netted all five of their penalties to defeat Portugal in a quarter-final shootout on Friday
Luis de la Fuente's side were the only team in the tournament to win all three of their group games before comfortably seeing off Georgia in the round of 16.
Their clash with Germany looked certain to be decided by spot kicks before substitute Mikel Merino netted in the 119th minute to dump the hosts out of the tournament.
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