France are the favorites, but besides playing tactical, sometimes boring football, Portugal, with Fernando Santos pulling the strings, have shown they can adapt quite well to their opponent in each match.
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Deschamps commented on star forward Antoine Griezmann, who is leading the scoring charts with six goals to spearhead his side’s run to the final. Their defense has looked much better in the knockout stages only conceding a single goal in 330 minutes and the offense has began to find its form. France’s Dimitri Payet, center, heads a ball during a training session at the stadium in Clairefontaine, France, Saturday, July 9, 2016.
“We’ve grown”, midfielder Paul Pogba said.
But there will be no victory parade if France win, the officials warned.
Portugal muddled through the group stage with three draws, downed Croatia with a last-gasp extra-time victor and got past Poland on penalties before beating Wales 2-0 in the semi-final.
Deschamps was key in France’s last success after skippering his country to Euro 2000, having done the same as they won the World Cup on home soil two years earlier.
Now a nation still scarred by last year’s terror attacks will seek sporting salvation from its football heroes and a chance to party again in the streets of Paris, where security has been intense during the tournament.
Along with the fever is the mad rush for the French national team’s jersey especially in the French capital, Paris.
France also sealed a 2-0 win in the second semi-final against Germany. Some of them played in the Champions League final.
“I’ve played against Griezmann several times in Spain”, Pepe said through a translator.
“But whether they will win or not is a whole different thing. Every one will want to write their name into the history of Portuguese football”.
In Euros, the prize money for the champions of Euro 2016, up a half a million from the 2012 final.
Portugal essentially use a four-man defence in conjunction with a midfield diamond, an approach none of the other 23 teams in this competition used as their default system.
“It’s something that I always dreamed of”, Ronaldo told Uefa.com ahead of the final at the Stade de France.
“I have won everything at club level and the individual level, this would be a great achievement to win something for the Portuguese team”.
Griezmann has already had a tearful tournament exit, having cried on the pitch at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana after France lost to Germany in the 2014 World Cup quarter-finals.
“Antoine plays in a position that he knows and often does so for Atletico”, he said at a Press conference. I am very demanding of myself. “Feeling all of the French public behind us, feeling the joy shared between the players and the fans strengthens our bond”.
“It was a very important game for us”.
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With his great rival Lionel Messi’s Argentina career up in the air – the Barcelona star announced his global retirement following a defeat on penalties by Chile in the Copa America final – Ronaldo has an extra incentive to win on Sunday. “In fact the FAW has been charged by UEFA on that but we put in a lot of mitigation around this because obviously it is about that future generation and that inclusivity”.
