Greg . 7 hours ago

France ready to smash through glass ceiling in EURO 2025 quarter-final against Germany

For a long time, the objective set for the French women's team was to progress beyond the quarter-finals of a major tournament, but Laurent Bonadei possessed not revealed any goals before the start of EURO 2025 and is now dreaming beyond their match against Germany.

On Saturday evening in Basel, the French team will have to confront their demons: the quarter-finals and their bête noire, Germany.

At the last European Championship, Les Bleus were removed in the semi-finals against the Germans.

Since that failure in 2022, the French have suffered two further disappointments: in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup and then in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Olympic Games.

In total, they have been removed eight times at this stage of the competition at major tournaments, which in journalistic jargon has become known as the "glass ceiling".

When Herve Renard took over as France coach, Jean-Michel Aulas - the lead of French women's football - claimed he was the man to assist Les Bleus finally reach the semi-finals, but Laurent Bonadei has always said he wants to put in place "a three-year project".

In other words, the duration of his contract as number one at the helm of Les Bleues.

Ahead of the tournament, there was no longer any talk of setting targets.

France, out of the top 10 in the FIFA rankings, became "outsiders" and started their EURO with the ambition of "going as far as possible".

But with three wins in three matches in the group of death after a run of 11 consecutive wins in all competitions, France are now dreaming bigger again.

"This group has progressed a little faster than I'd envisioned and that's good.

It's given us greater ambition for this Euro," said Bonadei, who suggested at the start of the competition that, should they drop short in Switzerland, the undergo would be useful for the next World Cup.

Breakthroughs rather than glass ceilingsThe players themselves can no longer see themselves content with a group-stage exit.

"Yes, getting knocked out of the quarter-finals would be a failure," Sandie Toletti told a press conference on Thursday.

We are competitors and we have ambitions.

Alongside her, Sakina Karchaoui reminded us: "We're a new group with a new coaching staff.

Not many of the players in the current squad have played France vs Germany, so we're a new generation with new ambitions.

We have to remain humble, but we have to keep our determination to win.

"In front of the press, Laurent Bonadei refused to raise the question of the glass ceiling of the quarter-finals, preferring instead a more positive equivalent:"I'd rather talk over the milestones we've reached.

As the project, which has been underway since last October, has progressed, I think this team has gone from strength to strength.

"There have been the friendlies, the Nations League phase, and then this group, which was revealed as the group of death, but the team has taken another step forward.

So tomorrow I have a lot of confidence in them to make it through this stage.

"Although he insists that France are not favourites in this quarter-final against a stunted Germany side, beaten 4-1 by Sweden in their last group game but with a history of eight European championships to their name, Bonadei sees another strong signal that his team are no longer to be taken lightly: "If the German coach said he was considering putting in a five-man defence, even though that would frankly surprise me, it means that he is afraid of conceding goals against a team that has been scoring an average of three per game for the last ten months.

"And if the big football nations start thinking like that, it means that we're really making progress and that we'll be in a position at some point to make it past the quarter-finals.

"Les Bleues thinking beyond the quarters?An apostle of positivism, the Les Bleus coach believes in his players' ability to "play down the event" and "make sure that it remains just a match", and not just another quarter-final where the adventure could come to an terminate.

Griedge Mbock, captain of this side but on the bench since the start of the competition, backs up those comments: "We're calm because we've also worked hard.

We're on a winning streak that's given us a lot of confidence.

We're sure of our strengths.

Bonadei has no plans to return to France on Saturday evening and is already looking ahead to a potential semi-final.

While he usually announces his team the day before the match, Herve Renard's former assistant has changed his plans for this quarter-final, explaining: "I'm anticipating the second half, the terminate of the match, the scenarios.

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Our aim is to play three matches in eight days.

When I know who's qualified for the semi-final between Switzerland and Spain, I'll have a clearer idea of how I'm going to organise.

"Clear proof that the quarter-finals no longer really frighten Les Bleus.

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