He did not score in Sunday’s final, though, as hosts France went down to a surprise 0-1 defeat to Portugal thanks to substitute Eder’s extra-time victor.
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Personally, I feel that the tournament is better as a spectacle with fewer teams involved because it means that teams must try and attack in order to get wins to put them through the group stages.
Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo had been feeling the pressure ahead of the game, reacting angrily to being interrupted by a reporter as he and his teammates were walking alongside a lake near the team hotel.
An unlikely scorer secured the pre-tournament outsiders a title at last. “The man who could at any moment score a goal”.
It was just Eder’s third appearance of the tournament – all of which have been off the bench late in the second half.
President Rebelo de Sousa had said after the match at the Stade de France: “I had already said that we are the best in Europe”.
Victory also gave Ronaldo energy.
In doing so, Portugal denied the French a third final victory on home soil to add to Euro ’84 and the 1998 World Cup. France tried to apply the same plan they had used to knock out Germany and Iceland – high precision and speed. “The overriding emotion is a lot of sadness”. “That we were going to fight for him”.
Ronaldo is also the first player to reach three European Championship semifinals.
“We had to work very hard and be more humble than the other team, that’s the only way to win”.
“We weren’t cool-headed enough, but I can’t hold anything against my players”.
The Lille forward took a pass from Joao Moutinho in the 109th minute, cut onto his right, and unleashed the flawless strike from 25 yards towards the near-corner, beating a stretched France keeper and captain Hugo Lloris.
The 25-year-old was part of the France team that lost the Euro 2016 final to Portugal on Sunday night, following on from Atletico Madrid’s defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final at the end of May.
And Griezmann’s double failure isn’t the first of its kind. When an inviting cross from Kingsley Coman was delivered in the 66th, Griezmann missed with a free header.
“Clearly we had our chances and had the last opportunity (of normal time) with Andre-Pierre Gignac striking the post in stoppage time”.
Luck was on Portugal’s side, and Eder was able to strike the decisive blow.
Ronaldo fell to the turf again in the 17th.
Ronaldo’s early injury robbed the game of its central character, although the surreal sight of a moth consoling him as he lay in tears on the pitch provided some light relief.
The stretcher came on and in the 25th minute Ronaldo became a spectator. But thanks to Patricio’s array of saves and dogged defending, Ronaldo left a champion. The only game between two of the more fancied teams in the group stages was Italy against Belgium, and most people would prefer more matches of that magnitude to take place throughout the tournament.
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“It’s something unbelievable in my career”, Ronaldo said.
