France have broken quarter-final curse but can controversial coach Diacre lead them to Women's Euros glory?

France – home of Europe’s most successful club and many of the world’s best players – will compete in a first ever Women's Euros semi-final on Wednesday. It’s remarkable that they’ve never been here before.

For years, this country has been plagued by a quarter-final curse, losing its last three in a row in this competition. Last week, that rotten run was finally ended by an extra-time win over the Netherlands.

"The glass ceiling has finally shattered,” wrote L’Equipe, “scattering thousands of shards of relief.”

“As players on the pitch, we never had any doubts,” Player of the Match Selma Bacha told UEFA afterwards. “The team was perfect this evening. The leaders really pushed us forward and we kept believing.”

Having overcome what must have been a real mental block, could this finally be France’s time?

A look through the squad underlines that they have the requisite talent to win the Euros.

Wendie Renard, the player with the most appearances in the Champions League – a trophy she has won eight times with Lyon – is their captain.

In midfield, they have Grace Geyoro, who has been Paris Saint-Germain’s captain since her early 20s and is among the best midfielders in the world.

Ahead of her is a pool of forwards that few other nations can compete with: Kadidiatou Diani and Sandy Baltimore from PSG; Melvine Malard and Delphine Cascarino from Lyon.

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The team lost Marie-Antoinette Katoto in the group stages, one of the game’s best No.9s suffering a serious knee injury. But even without her, France still probably have the best attack in the tournament.

But there are a number of reasons why many are still doubting their ability to go all the way. One of those reasons is the coach, Corinne Diacre. Since taking over five years ago, controversy has been omnipresent.

She’s had high-profile fall-outs with some of the leading names in French football – Lyon goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, who has retired from international duty while Diacre is in charge, went as far as to say: “Winning a title with this coach seems impossible to me.”

She has also made incredibly bold and often baffling selections with her squad. After leaving Katoto out of the World Cup in 2019, Amandine Henry was the headline-grabbing omission this summer.

The midfielder was snubbed just a week after her Player of the Match performance in the Champions League final. “It just doesn’t add up,” she told L’Equipe.

So far in this tournament, that potential danger of an internal implosion many believe Diacre brings hasn’t occurred.

In fact, those with reservations about this team’s ability to succeed will have felt a little silly after the first round of group games, with France absolutely hammering an Italy team tipped to be dark horses, the final score 5-1.

“We’re not the favourites,” Diacre said when asked by GOAL why she felt there had been a lack of title talk about her team going into the summer. “But we’re ambitious and have shown what we are made of this evening.”

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Since then, though, another old concern has reared its ugly head: France’s inability to score the goals their performances have warranted. They’ve not been clinical and they’ve looked shaky defensively, too.

After a 2-1 win over Belgium and a 1-1 draw with Iceland, they had 33 shots in their quarter-final against the Netherlands. They scored one goal.

“If we can take all our chances that would be much better,” said Diacre. “But what matters is creating chances. If you don’t do that, you can’t score.

"We play on the front foot with great attacking players who create plenty of chances and now we need to be more clinical."

They’ll certainly need to do that on Wednesday in their semi-final clash with Germany.

This is a team yet to concede, a team with one of the world’s best goalkeepers and a defence that is having a sensational tournament. The eight-time champions also have plenty of attacking talent and ways to trouble this France side.

Diacre’s side might have overcome that quarter-final hoodoo, but none of the players in her squad – a squad of winners – came to England to reach a semi-final.

On the eve of this huge game, Renard was asked what it meant to her to be in the last four. “It will only mean anything if we win the trophy,” she responded.

That is the leader of this team, one of the most decorated footballers on the planet, but one who is missing an international trophy.

Leading an incredible generation of players, this is one of her best chances – and France’s best chances – to change that.