Les Bleus beat world champions Germany 2-0 in their semi-final in front of a fiercely partisan Marseille crowd. We were better than the French.
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“We generate passion and fervour, we can see that”. “There is a lot of happiness all over France tonight”.
The big occasion at the Stade de France will not spook Deschamps.
France, who become the first host nation to reach the Euros final twice, now have the opportunity to win their first major tournament since Euro 2000 and evoke memories of the side Deschamps captained to World Cup glory in 1998.
Even though Loew admitted the mistakes by his players, he claimed that his side was better than the French. We’re going to enjoy this and then concentrate on the final on Sunday.
“Nevertheless, we still had the chance to bounce back but simply couldn’t score”. Portugal believe in themselves, and we believe in ourselves. “It’s still very open”.
Antoine Griezmann’s terrific tournament got a grade better in Marseille as he scored two goals past a helpless Manuel Neuer, to send France into the final.
“If we won the match, nobody would complain, everybody would have said, “Deserved win for Germany”.
Thanking the passionate fans in Marseille, who gave his side a bit extra when France was in difficulty, Deschamps said he hoped the win would give the French population something to cheer after a hard period.
France scored a penalty in injury time of the first half to go ahead.
What: France vs. Portugal in the UEFA European Championship final. The French forward said that he really wanted to take a penalty in an important match. “I take what happens, because honestly, I did not expect it”. A clever footwork left Shkodran Mustafi for dead before Pogba set up a cross that was parried by Neuer, and Griezmann was first on the scene to prod home his sixth goal of the tournament.
In the match that saw him crowned the most-capped European player at major global tournaments, Schweinsteiger denied Evra the chance to head at goal with his arm from close-range after Griezmann’s corner. Tired at the start of the championship, France’s national hero is now all but certain to walk away with the adidas Golden Boot. On the weekend he will face off with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. We’re very exhausted but very happy tonight.
His strike partner Olivier Giroud said: “It’s an emotional night”.
“Antoine Griezmann has grown as this tournament has gone on”. I’m delighted for him.
“You still want success and it means we will kick each other to improve further”. I am actually so emotional.
“At the back they were great”.
“We never know. The coach will have to make choices and we will accept them”. Platini netted nine times in that competition, including two hat-tricks and a goal in the final.
Germany were forced into a change in the 61st minute when Shkodran Mustafi replaced the injured Boateng and Joachim Low was soon calling for attacking reinforcements with Mario Gotze coming on in place of Can. We haven’t discussed beforehand what we would do after a loss. “We experience the passion when we talk to the people”.
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“I can’t blame the team for anything and we went behind after a stupid incident”. Today that wasn’t the case.
