France's Randal Kolo Muani in action with Belgium's Orel Mangala [Source: Reuters]

An 85th-minute deflected shot by Randal Kolo Muani, listed as a Jan Vertonghen own goal, gave France a nervy 1-0 win over a disappointing Belgium on Monday and sent them into the quarter-finals despite another poor show by their misfiring forwards.

France made most of the running in a cagey game but were reckless with their finishing, until a nice combination of passes, finished off by N’Golo Kante, finally created space for substitute Kolo Muani to turn and bundle a mishit shot in off the leg of Vertonghen and leave goalkeeper Koen Casteels wrong-footed.

France will now meet the winner of Monday’s match between Portugal and Slovenia in the quarter-finals in Hamburg on Friday.

It was a fittingly scruffy decider for an underwhelming game and means that France still have yet to score in open play at the tournament, recording two own goals and a Kylian Mbappe penalty across their four games.

Various combinations have been tried up front, while midfielders and defenders also caught the bug on Monday with some wild attempts, but coach Didier Deschamps, unsurprisingly, preferred to focus on the positives.

Seeking to become the first man to win the World Cup and European Championship both as player and coach, Deschamps knows better than most that it’s not how you play, but how far you go that matters when it comes to tournaments.