Nervy France progress to Euro 2024 quarter-finals at the expense of Belgium as Jan Vertonghen's late own goal separates the two nations after dire opening 85 minutes

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In the end, it was Jan Vertonghen’s kneecap which proved decisive, late in a game which was approaching agonies of suspense. A fractional movement by the Dutch captain to contend with the French forward who had spun around him and fired off a shot and suddenly Belgium’s campaign was over. Such is the desperate jeopardy of the knock-outs.

It was so hard on the smaller nation. They had fought their way into some kind sense of self-belief during a game whose territory was dominated by France.

Few will suffer more desperation in the aftermath than Kevin de Bruyne, presented with his nation’s outstanding chance, minutes before France’s breakthrough. He fired an effort he would bury most days of the week in Manchester at France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

The win means France have reached the quarter finals on the back of two own-goals and one penalty. None from outfield. But you only had to see Didier Descamps mobbing Mbappe to know that simply getting there was enough, after an evening of tension.

‘Irresistible Francais’ declares the banner which has accompanied the French around the country, though they have been some distance short of that, striving for answers to free themselves of a dependency on Mbappe.

Randal Kolo Muani came off the bench to make a defining contribution for France against Belgium

The forward's shot appeared to be going wide before it was deflected on target by Belgium defender Jan Vertonghen

France advance to the last-eight of the tournament, where they'll meet either Portugal or Slovenia

The man changed his mask here – smaller eyeholes, thicker and more plentiful fabric, some kind of mechanism to keep it on, at the back – and Deschamps arranged players in a system designed to get the best of him on the field, but it was a torturous pursuit of openings.

The evidence of our eyes these past few years tells us that Mbappe assassinates through that burning pace, though France’s intricate, absorbed, sometimes maddening aesthetic didn’t allow for that.

They had their moments in their first half - a thundering Jules Kounde run to meet Aurelien Tchouameni’s 40ft diagonal and arrow a cross from which Marcus Thurum, getting ahead of Woet Faes, powered a header wide; Antoine Griezmann drifting in from the right and occasionally pulling the levers. Aurelien Tchouameni dictated play from deep.

But Thurum was not dynamic and there was painfully little end-result to show for a narrow game clogged up in the Belgian defensive mechanism. Mbappe found himself running at a wall of maroon. The Belgian fans sang ‘please don’t take me home’, in that memorable way of theirs, but there wasn’t so much to keep them here.

It seemed like a symbol of Belgian diminishment that they sat so deep, offering little ambition, though the presence of Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku - their shining light in the first half – that they could dare to do more.

Doku won the free kick on the left edge of the box which created the Belgians’ best first half chance – a low, dipping de Bruyne free-kick which Maignan, seemingly unsighted, scrambled to kick clear virtually form the goal line when it reached him.

But France generally coped with the transition and the Belgians had their strikers so deep that there were no attacking forces to release.

There was a rare moment for concern in the France backline when Mike Maignan scrambled away a Belgium free-kick

Arsenal defender William Saliba (right) had the beating of Romelu Lukaku for the duration of the clash

Belgium crash out of the tournament after a disappointing campaign under Domenico Tedesco

France upped their pace early in the second half, with Tchouameni increasingly ready to take aim from distance and Mbappe twice found his way in. He drove past de Bruyne on the edge of the box and smashed narrowly. He scuffed a shot when Kounde, effective down the right, found him in a pocket of space.

And then, the finish which had the Belgians walking around the pitch wondering what had hit them and Vertonghen staring blankly into space.

The forward Randal Kolo Muani, on for Thuram, span around the central defender and struck the shot which was deflected in. France’s struggles to score suggest there is little reason to fear them, though they are through, with Mbappe in their ranks. That makes them a threat to anyone.