Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will face France in the Euro 2016 final after the tournament hosts beat world champions Germany 2-0 on Thursday evening.
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At global tournaments, it’s often the case that one player excels above all others, usually in terms of goals, and Euro 2016 has definitely been Antoine Griezmann’s competition.
No side ever wins a major football tournament without a modicum of good fortune and France arguably had theirs in the semifinal against Germany when they were outplayed for large parts of the game and were awarded a soft penalty. “We didn’t have the luck we needed”. “It was a long time since we’d beaten Germany but that didn’t mean anything today”.
Schweinsteiger said he has yet to make a decision as to whether he wants to play on for the 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation, telling reporters: “I first need to take a step back now and think about it”.
“I’d like to write a chapter in history and achieve something great on Sunday”.
Handball penalties were the thorn in Germany’s side in the knock-out stages.
“Just before the Romania match, the president came to talk to us about the security measures in and around the stadia”.
Deschamps was captain of the France team that won the 1998 World Cup as hosts, and he said winning the Euro trophy would be a moment his players would not forget.
“I’m actually so emotional”, Henry said. “Portugal believe in themselves, we believe in ourselves”, the coach added. I haven’t seen too many errors from us.
“There should be nothing above the French shirt for the players; perhaps that’s not always been the case but they’re now very aware of what they can give to people when they’re wearing this shirt for”.
Trailing in a match for the first time in the tournament, Germany could not recover their previous dominance after halftime. 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. “This is the result of a group and of a lot of hard work from the staff”.
“I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, as this was the most important match of the Euros with two sides of prestige and tradition”.
Thierry Henry lauded Antoine Griezmann and said the France star deserved comparisons to Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini.
However, the man from Macon has took his performances to whole new levels in France’s last two games against Iceland and Germany.
France’s most creative midfielder, who has scored three goals so far, struggled to make an impression against Germany other than for his glaring inability to track back and defend.
The bookmakers favour the home side to secure piece of worldwide silverware when they host Portugal in Paris on Sunday.
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Griezmann will hope to emulate Platini in Sunday’s final, which will see him and his teammates take on Portugal at the Stade de France.
