Seven months on the national team will return to the Stade de France in very difference circumstances, carried by a wave of national joy and goodwill.
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― Reuters picMARSEILLE, July 8 ― France have found a new hero in Antoine Griezmann and the striker has his eyes firmly set on lifting the Euro 2016 trophy after his two goals fired Les Bleus past Germany yesterday and into the final.
There were 90,000 people in a fan zone under the Eiffel Tower and tens of thousands more in front of giant screens in cities around the country.
Didier Deschamps won the European Championship as a player in 2000. We had the best possible conditions in Evian.
France’s star of Euro 2016 Antoine Griezmann exorcised some of his Champions League demons with the penalty which put his side on the way to an appearance in the final against Portugal.
Mark Clattenburg will officiate Sunday’s Final between France and Portugal.
This happened to be the first time since 1958 that France have beaten Germany at a major tournament.
The 2014 World Cup winners had dominated possession and German coach Joachim Loew said he had to “calm the players down” in the dressing room at half-time because of the penalty.
“The decision has been made to go for 24 and all the preparations for 2020 are with 24 teams”, UEFA general secretary ad interim Theodore Theodoridis said, when asked if it could go back to 16 teams or even be expanded to 32. “The team did well, played well, scored two important goals against the good-feel team of the tournament, Wales”, he said.
“I always trusted my players”.
Schweinsteiger, who returned to the XI due to an injury to Sami Khedira, has apologised to the Germany supporters following the defeat, in addition to paying tribute to hosts France.
“For the second goal I was hanging back to wait for an error from the goalkeeper”, said Griezmann. “Wherever we were, Lille, Saint-Denis, Paris, Bordeaux or Marseille – thanks to you we had our twelfth man by our side”.
“We have to see the overall picture of the competition – not only the final tournament but also the qualifiers”. We were clinical, and Lloris was great when we needed him to be. “We had the best team in the world opposite us”.
“As soon as we beat them in a friendly, it gave us a lift”, Evra said. “This team has everything it needs to be loved, I’m very proud”.
“But we still have one step to take”.
“We have to keep our feet on the ground, there’s still a match to go; both before and during the game it was great with our fans – let’s hope we can relive that in the final”.
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“The side did everything I told them, showed a lot of courage so there’s nothing to reproach them for”.
