10 July 2016
FRANCE 0
PORTUGAL 1 (Eder 109)
Payet body checked Ronaldo and as he went down the world assumed he was faking, as usual, only he wasn't. He limped through the next several minutes before breaking down in tears as he was taken off. Patched up by the Portuguese medical team he briefly returned before being stretched off. It was a foul but a rather innocuous challenge. A rare mistake by Pepe (at least in this tournament) presented Payet with the ball in a dangerous area, a typically immaculate cross was met by a Griezmann flick header and Patricio tipped the ball away for a corner. Sissoko, fresh having done absolutely nothing for two seasons at Newcastle, rolled Adrien Silva as he turned onto Payet's pass and blasted at Patricio.
Coman replaced Payet just before the hour mark and created the games clearest chance. He dribbled past Soares before whipping a cross into the box, Griezmann got between Carvalho and Guerreiro but headed over. Terrible miss. Coman created another chance minutes later but Patricio was equal to Giroud's snapshot. After 80 minutes Portugal finally managed to get a shot on target and even then it wasn't a shot, Lloris made a meal of Nani's miss-hit cross. France finished strongly. Sissoko draw another (decent) save from Patricio with an effort from distance and big lug Gignac, on for Giroud, should have scored in the second minute of injury time. With his back to goal, he gathered a pass from Nani, turned Pepe inside out before scuffing a shot against the inside of the left post. He should have scored having done the hard work.
At the game moving into extra time you'd figure the Portuguese would play for penalties but they suddenly started to threaten. Eder got above the French defence to meet Quaresma's inswing corner but headed straight at a surprised Lloris. Guerreiro rattled a free kick against the underside of the crossbar before substitute Eder scored a dramatic winner. Moutinho swapped passes with Carvalho then Quaresma as Portugal attacked down the left, Eder was wrestling with Koscielny as he ran infield, he eventually got free and 25 yards from goal standing near the D, he let rip without even looking and the ball fizzed into the bottom left corner. Martial came on a minute later, needless to say it was too late. Well done Deschamps, you idiot.
Ronaldo gave the full time team talk and was continually offering encouragement to the players and giving instructions in extra time. He then climbed the stairs and triumphantly held the trophy aloft, images that will be seen all over the world. I hope Messi chokes on his breakfast.
This was trolling of the highest order. Portugal finished third in their group without winning a game, beat Croatia in extra time, beat Poland on penalties, beat a Wales side missing their second best player and beat France in extra time. That's one win in regular time in the entire tournament and only three wins in total. Even with glory hog Ronaldo going down injured, the cameras of course couldn't keep away and it was fitting then that he held aloft the trophy in triumph as Griezmann once against finished on the losing side, just as he had in the European Cup final, and, far more importantly, gave a giant middle finger to Messi, who once against shat the bed in a major tournament despite being surrounded by a superior cast of characters. Ronaldo may have only played well in two games but he was vital to Portugal's progress to the final and that so much of the focus was on him must surely have helped relieve the pressure on his team-mates.
France seemed to be peaking, following up their thrashing of Iceland with a victory over mistake ridden Germany but fell flat at the final hurdle. Most of the blame of course has to be laid at the feet of the hacker Deschamps. Pogba played far too deep, which is one of the reasons he's had such a poor tournament, and while Sissoko may look threatening, he plays for himself. High balls and crosses were meat and drink for Pepe, which is probably why Griezmann was forced to go so deep the get the ball. Martial, criminally underused, would have almost certainly gave the French attack a different dimension in much the same way Coman did.
Attendance : 75,868
Assist : Moutinho
Best XI
GK. Patricio (Portugal)
DF. Umtiti (France)
DF. Pepe (Portugal)
DF. Bonucci (Italy)
LM. Payet (France)
DM. Matuidi (France)
DM. Renato Sanches (Portugal)
AM. Ramsey (Wales)
FW. Griezmann (France)
FW. Bale (Wales)
FW. Ronaldo (Portugal)
Top Goalscorers
6 goals - Griezmann (France)
3 goals - Bale (Wales)
3 goals - Payet (France)
3 goals - Ronaldo (Portugal)
Assist Leaders
4 assists - Hazard (Belgium)
4 assists - Ramsey (Wales)
3 assists - Ronaldo (Portugal)
Leading Attackers
8 goals - 6 scored & 2 assisted - Griezmann (France)
6 goals - 3 scored & 3 assisted - Ronaldo (Portugal)