After collecting his trophies Sunday, Griezmann embodied the joy and pain France was feeling in the aftermath of its 1-0 extra time loss in the final.
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The 25-year-old was the tournament’s top scorer with six goals – more than any player at one European Championship since Michel Platini hit nine in France’s 1984-winning campaign on home soil.
Despite leaving the pitch injured during Sunday’s final against hosts France, Ronaldo made a contribution to his nation’s victory by urging them on from the touchline. “The technical observers were in unanimous agreement that he was the tournament’s outstanding player”. They’ve always believed what I told them: That we could win this.
“We have to be critical”.
At full-time, Portugal boss Fernando Santos said: “First of all I’d like to thank God for being with us, my wife, my mother, my grandson”. There was a lot of pressure, but we wanted to win for everyone who came to see us.
“But UEFA has always worked like this”.
“It was tough to lose our main man, the man who could at any moment score a goal”, said Pepe, who overcame a thigh injury to play at Stade de France.
Ronaldo followed behind Bale at 18%, who was further trailed by Dimitri Payet (12%), Paul Pogba (3%), and Pepe (3%).
Explaining his decision to inject Eder into the fray from the bench, the Portuguese coach said: “I had thought that, depending on how the game was, he could be very important from the very start”.
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A leaping save to tip away Antione Griezmann’s early header; a diving block to divert Olivier Giroud’s powerful second-half shot; and a stretching parry of Moussa Sissoko’s sizzling drive in the 84h minute.
