The Portuguese gloom would deepen by the 17 minute as their hero went down again, and while more treatment for the 31-year-old would get him back on, more pressure from France saw the chances of the home side winning looking more and more likely.
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“The main feeling is a bad disappointment”, he said.
France ultimately fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Portugal in the final, but Griezmann’s performances throughout the campaign led to him being named the tournament’s best player by a panel of 13 UEFA technical observers. It’s tough, real tough.
Portugal winger Ricardo Quaresma has hailed team-mate and captain Cristiano Ronaldo as the only person in football he admires after their victory over hosts France in the final of the European Championship.
Ronaldo’s sacrifice, according to his sister, Kate, was of a similar magnitude to the one Christ is said to have made for all mankind.
“I can’t reproach my players, they gave it all they had but we lacked that bit of luck. Many congrats to the whole country totally deserved it France favourites to win but Portuguese showed resistance”, he captioned the video.
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”.
Having watched so many losses, I thought I was jinxing them (a Portuguese trait only Portuguese people will understand) but come 3am Monday morning, I couldn’t tear myself away from it. You deserve this as you always believed in us.
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“We have a bright future but right now we need to celebrate”.
