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Fantastic Griezmann sends Germany home and the hosts France to the Final
The next in line are Olivier Giroud, Dimitri Payet, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani (all with 3 goals), all of whom could feature in the final.
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With 18 minutes remaining in the tie, a mistake from Joshua Kimmich inside his own penalty area was pounced upon by French midfielder Paul Pogba.
An intense security operation will be in place over the weekend ahead of the final, to safeguard against any hint of complacency, but Griezmann insists that the France players have played in the tournament without fear of further attacks disrupting the competition.
For the semi-final clash, the German side was reshuffled due to the absences of Mario Gomez, Mats Hummels and Sami Khedira.
Two-goal Antoine Griezmann fired France into the Euro 2016 final yesterday when a smash and grab 2-0 victory over a territorially dominant Germany ended 58 years of tournament suffering at the hands of their neighbours.
But Loew said that unlike their Euro 2012 semi-final defeat to Italy and loss to Spain at the same stage of the 2010 World Cup, his team was not out-played.
Griezmann slammed home a first-half penalty, following a needless handball from Bastian Schweinsteiger, and then poked in the second after the break to secure the host nation’s first competitive win over Germany in 58 years.
“I had my share [of finals] as a player”, he said. “This makes me proud, I always dreamed about winning something for Portugal and I hope it will be this time”.
“I don’t say anything about referees’ decisions, you have to accept them”.
“We want to show another image of the French national team”.
Many have drawn parallels between the Atletico Madrid forward and his legendary compatriots Zidane and Platini – the latter being the only one to score more at a single European Championship with nine strikes in 1984.
The final will be played between hosts France and Portugal on the 11th of July at the Stade de France.
“It was our duty to win the matches, to try and entertain the French people and try and go all the way in this tournament”, Griezmann said.
“Today we were better than the French but for the goals and result”.
“It was unfortunate that we conceded the goal”.
Lisbon native and chef Helio Goncalves believes victory is within reach, saying: “To be honest, I didn’t think we could reach the final after the first few games, but the team got better and now I am sure we can win the final”.
With six goals and two assists, there is no doubting that Griezmann has been the most effective player in France this summer. With his great rival Lionel Messi’s Argentina career up in the air – the Barcelona star announced his global retirement following a defeat on penalties by Chile in the Copa America final – Ronaldo has an extra incentive to win on Sunday.
“Today we didn’t have the luck we needed”, said Loew. “No, for me Germany-France was the best”.
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A Portugal win would help banish the heartache of losing the 2004 Euro final at home to Greece.