Saint-Denis: Portugal gatecrashed
France’s Euro 2016 party to win the European Championship for the first time in
its history — and all this without leading star Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Real Madrid forward was forced
out of the game with a knee injury in the first half, but Portugal regrouped
and thanks to some heroic goalkeeping from Rui Patricio took the game into
extra time before Eder struck with 11 minutes to go.
Portugal’s 1-0 win was all the more
remarkable given in their previous 10 meetings — France had won all of them. France
hit the post late on in normal time, but so too did Portugal just before Eder's
goal when Raphael Guerreiro’s exquisite free kick came back off the crossbar.
The win was testament to a
remarkable group ethic after Ronaldo was taken off on a stretcher following a
robust tackle by Dimitri Payet on eight minutes.
Twice Ronaldo tried to hobble back
on the pitch before he collapsed, distraught and in tears as he conceded his
tournament had come to a premature end.
The huge ovation he was given by the
Stade de France crowd — French and Portuguese fans alike — must have been scant
consolation given the pivotal role he has played in this side for over a decade
since making his international debut as an 18-year-old.
This was the third time that France
made it to the finals, and the first time they lost after making it to the
finals. Previously, France won the title in 1984 by defeating Spain 2-0 and in
2000 by defeating Italy 2-1.
Twelve years ago he was also left in
tears after Euro 2004 host Portugal was surprisingly beaten 1-0 by Greece.
“The winner always deserves it,”
said France coach Didier Deschamps. “You can analyze things but they didn't get
to the final by chance. “This is the first time I think that a team finished
third in their group and ended up as champions.”
The Golden Boot, Silver Boot and
Bronze Boot were awarded to France’s Antoine Griezmann (6 goals), Portugal’s
Cristiano Ronaldo (3 goals) and France’s Olivier Giroud (3 goals) respectively.
Four other players also scored three golas but were not awarded for either
playing less time (minutes wise) during the tournament or providing less
assistants to other players in scoring goals than Ronaldo and Giroud. These
four players are Portugal’s Nani, Spain’s Alvaro Morata, Wales’ Gareth Bale and
France’s Dimitri Payet.
Portuguese player Renato Sanches won
the ‘Young Player of the Tournament’ award.
This was the 15th edition
of the tournament.
The next Euro Cup, that is, the 16th
Euro Cup edition will take place in 2020.
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