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 Portugal
gatecrashed France's Euro 2016 party to win
the European Championship for the first time in
its history -- and all this without leading star
Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Real Madrid forward had been forced out of
the game with a knee injury in the first half, but
Portugal regrouped and thanks to some heroic
goalkeeping from Rui Patricio took the game
into extra time before Eder struck with 11
minutes to go.
Portugal's 1-0 win was all the more remarkable
given in their previous 10 meetings, France had
won all of them.
"Simple as doves and as wise as serpents," is
how Portugal coach Fernando Santos
characterized his team's success at Euro 2016.
France had hit the post late on in normal time,
but so too did Portugal just before Eder's goal
when Raphael Guerreiro's exquisite free kick
came back off the crossbar and its win was
testament to a remarkable group ethic after
Ronaldo had gone off.