Portugal Loses Ronaldo But Beats France 1-0 In Extra Time For First-Ever Euro 2016 Title

Portugal defeated France 1-0 in extra time in the UEFA Euro 2016 final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France on Sunday, despite losing star forward Cristiano Ronaldo early in the game to injury.

Portugal Loses Ronaldo But Beats France 1-0 For Euro 2016 Title

Just 24 minutes into the final, Ronaldo went down after being tackled by French defenseman Dimitri Payet. The Real Madrid star grimaced and cried as he clutched his left knee, and after attempting to shrug the injury off, was forced to exit. Ronaldo handed his captain armband to his teammate, Valencia winger Nani, and was carried off the field.

Payet injured Ronaldo in the eighth minute, after poking the ball away from him with one foot while Payet’s trailing leg crashed into the side of the Portuguese’s left knee. Ronaldo tried to play on, but fell again twice due to the pain.

The Portuguese players and fans clearly seemed anxious for a few moments because of the 31-year-old forward’s ill-timed injury, but the team carried on playing with Nani as its leader, determined to win their first-ever European Championship.

Ronaldo demonstrated his unending dedication to his squad, however, by cheering on his teammates from the sidelines for the rest of the game, hobbling up and down the field with a bandage around his knee.

“We said we would win it for him,” said Portugal and Real Madrid defender Pepe of Ronaldo, grinning. “And we just managed to win it for him.”

Portugal’s run at the tournament was strange, as they appeared to have struggled from the very beginning. They tied all three of their first-round games, finishing in third place in their group (behind Hungary and Iceland), but somehow barely made it to the round of 16 as well.

Then, they edged past Croatia in extra time and defeated Poland in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals. Portugal’s subsequent 2-0 semifinal victory against Wales on Wednesday was their only win in regulation of the tournament.

Many critics will say Portugal was disappointing throughout the tournament for all these reasons, in addition to the fact they led for only 73 minutes of the 720 they played in total. However, they proved in the end that they were resilient.

“It defies description; it could be a Hollywood movie,” Portugal defenseman José Fonte said afterward. “We’ve written our names down in history.”

When the final whistle blew after 120-plus minutes of playing time, the Portuguese players piled on top of each other in celebration, while the French players simply bowed their heads and sat or stood on the field in dismay. After a year that was marked by terrorist attacks in Paris, nationwide flooding and constant worker strikes, France was hoping a Euro 2016 victory would give them a chance to celebrate something.

France had plenty of great attacking plays and scoring chances all throughout the afternoon, including a shot from forward Andre-Pierre Gignac in stoppage time, with one minute left in regulation, that hit the left post. Gignac took a low cross from defenseman Patrice Evra in the box, and after deftly maneuvering around Pepe twice, fired a right-footer as Fonte and Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio both slid to make a stop. However, the ball caromed off inside of the near post, and no one seemed there to take the rebound.

Rising French star Antoine Griezmann, who scored both goals against Germany in the semifinal, took several shots in both halves but could not find the back of the net, running back in frustration to recover for the next play every time he kicked or headed a ball over the crossbar or into Patricio’s arms.

French goalie Hugo Lloris also made several key saves, including two successive ones in the 80th minute. The first one came from a high shot by Nani from just outside the top-right corner of the box. Lloris jumped to bat it in front with one hand, and Ricardo Quaresma– who came on to replace Ronaldo– attempted a rebound with a bicycle kick following a high bounce, but Lloris caught the ball safely in his hands.

“Football can be very cruel,” said Lloris, who is France’s captain. “The overriding emotion is a lot of sadness.”

Portuguese forward Eder was the one to deliver his team’s saving grace with the lone goal in the 109th minute. With France pushing forward to try to score in the second half of extra time, an opening arose for Portugal. Eder– who had come on as a substitute just a few minutes earlier– slid to his right just outside the penalty area and found a space between a pair of French defenders to fire a low shot from about 25 yards out that flew past LLoris’s right side and into the goal as he made a low dive.

Eder– a forward who is often criticized for inconsistent play– committed a handball just outside the France box one minute before scoring the goal. However, French defenseman Laurent Koscielny was booked for the handball instead. Portugal defender Raphaël Guerreiro took the shot, which bounced off the crossbar.

“We knew we could surprise them at any moment,” Éder said. “So that’s what we did.”

Once the celebrations began after the end of the match, Nani, ran up to Ronaldo on the sideline and returned the captain’s armband as the Real Madrid star teared up again– this time with joy– after pouncing on Portugal’s manager, Fernando Santos. 

The French trudged up to receive their silver medals. The Portuguese fans never stopped singing. Ronaldo joined his teammates on the dais and, gingerly, stepped to the front to raise the trophy as fireworks and streamers and sparklers lit up the night.

PHOTO: PARIS, FRANCE – JULY 10: Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal controls the ball under pressure from Paul Pogba of France during the UEFA EURO 2016 Final match between Portugal and France at Stade de France on July 10, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)