It did not start well for him and he was stretchered off injured in the first half of the final but Portugal still lifted their first major worldwide trophy. Qualification for the knock-out stages appeared ominous as the Real Madrid star regularly fluffed his lines and crashed a penalty against the post. In the final he had two chances and he didn’t finish them.
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When the 90 minutes finished and the players took a break ahead of extra-time, it was not Santos who roused the players but Ronaldo – a general barking orders to his soldiers on the battlefield. Usually, the top honors in tournaments go to players from the champions, but Griezmann was a worthy pick despite his team being runners-up.
“Antoine Griezmann was a threat in every game he played”.
“Maybe Portugal did not win many matches but they did not make it to the final by accident and they won it”, he said.
With 109 minutes gone, Eder beat off a Laurent Koscielny challenge to fire a shot from outside the penalty area that French captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris could not get a hand to.
After the Portugal captain released his own film, a documentary detailing his life, Guardian journalist Daniel Taylor came to the conclusion that the finished product was so vain “it is hard not to come away with the feeling that Ronaldo must shout his own name during sex”.
Ultimately, in an organisation where decisions are driven by elected officials answerable to national associations, though, the greater numbers and bigger profits, are popular with the likes of the FAI taking home around €11 million plus enhanced grants which are funded from the overall surplus from a tournament that the Republic of Ireland would not have qualified for this time had those extra eight places not been up for grabs.
And yet, while many predicted Portugal’s nearly immediate downfall after the loss of its talisman, what followed was a performance of a team which not only fought and battled, but outwitted its opponent on a tactical level too. “Last night, Portugal was able to get back the title that we lost in 2004”, he told Sport TV.
“I don’t necessarily agree with the decision”, Leboeuf told RMC. He was criticised many times but he showed a fantastic team spirit.
France coach Didier Deschamps was very disappointed.
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The reality, though, is that Ronaldo could not and would not have become a double European champion – for club, after Real’s Champions League success, and country – in the space of just over six weeks, or achieved so much in his career, if he was egotistical to the point of the exclusion of others. “We don’t know yet [about 2024] but at the moment it’s the format we’re looking at because it’s been very positive”.
