Portugal Beat French Odds To Be Crowned Euro 2016 Champions

A brilliant strike by Eder in extra-time earned the Portuguese their first major trophy, despite losing ca‎ptain Cristiano Ronaldo in the 25th minute.

The 31-year-old was carried off in tears eighteen minutes after injuring his knee in a clash with France’s Dimitri Payet.

The host were unable to capitalise on Ronaldo’s absence, although they came close at the end normal time when substitute Andre-Pierre Gignac turned and hit the inside of the post.

“I am very happy. I have been looking for this for a long time, since 2004. I asked God for another chance at this because we deserved it,” Ronaldo told reporters.

“Today I was unfortunate, I was injured but I always believed that these players, together with the strategy, would be strong enough to beat France.

“This is one of the happiest moments in my career, I always said I’d like to win something with Portugal. For me this is an amazing unique moment for all Portuguese.”

The Real Madrid forward has won three Champions League titles and been named World Player of the Year three times, but had never won a trophy for his country.

The unlikely hero, Eder, who came on as a 79th-minute substitute, to score the winner for Portugal said Ronaldo had given him some words of encouragement at the break in extra time.

“Cristiano told me I would score the winning goal,” said the 29-year-old. “He gave me strength and positive energy. A lot of hard work went into it.

“With the injury to Ronaldo, we went through a tough time because he’s very important for us but he gave us all his courage and his strength. We were able to win it for him and all the Portuguese people.”

Portugal, who began the tournament rated at 20-1 by the bookmakers, only won one of their seven matches in 90 minutes – the 2-0 semi-final win over Wales.

They qualified for the last 16 as one of the best third-placed teams having drawn against Iceland 1-1, Austria 0-0 and Hungary 3-3.

France manager, Didier Deschamp lamented his side’s loss in the final, saying they threw away their opportunity to claim a third European Championship.

“Even if we were a little bit tired, that’s not an excuse,” said Deschamps.

“It came down to tiny details – it was a close match. It’s a great disappointment for it to end now.

“We had chances to score, and the last one fell to Gignac, we had chances, as did the Portuguese, but unfortunately they scored.

“We must not throw everything that we’ve done away, but we threw away a great chance to be European champions – not the only one, but a great one.”

France won the European championship in 1984 and 2000