Portugal is the champion!

The European Football Championship was dramatic and ended in surprise. For the first time in the history of the tournament, the trophy went to the Portuguese team, which won not even in the last minutes of the match, but at extra time. Should I describe the emotions of the fans? The French were annoyed, the Portuguese exulted. The rest had only to follow the course of the game, but it was worth it.

Moths attack

The field was lit at night with spotlights. There were reasons for that, in particular security considerations, but the effect turned out to be unexpected. Butterflies flew from all the surrounding territories to the stadium "Stade de France". They occupied tribunes, billboards and even a scoreboard. They were swept away by the mops and brushes of the stewards, but this did not help, and it was not possible to eliminate the interference completely, despite all the efforts of the maintenance staff. Under other circumstances, such an invasion would not upset anybody, butterflies were beautiful. But they did not rejoice at the teams coming out to the playing field, because the insects could get into the eyes. Certain inconvenience persisted throughout the match. However, they showed no preference for moths, they equally annoyed both opponents. But the people clearly knew who is sick for whom.

Injury to Ronaldo

For the star of the Portuguese team Cristiano Ronaldo, this match, perhaps, could become a kind of swan song, but it did not work out. To shine really failed, he faced French midfielder Payet at the beginning of the first half and heavily bruised his leg. Football - a game hard, where before him on injury to at least the same boxing! Ronaldo courageously tried to play, but the pain did not allow him to continue to participate in the match. He fell and was carried on a stretcher to the applause of almost the entire stadium. Respect for the outstanding football player and expressed the French fans, which, of course, does them the honor. This loss could discourage the team and bring confusion to its ranks, but this did not happen, although, of course, it seriously reduced the offensive potential of the Portuguese national team. It should be noted that the version of the deliberate elimination of Payette did not even arise. Everything happened in front of thousands of spectators, and it was by chance. Ronaldo even cried, and then a moth sat down on his shoulder, as if to comfort him and inspire hope.

The price of loss

Ronaldo, of course, had high expectations. He was in this game, not only the captain, but also the informal leader of the team, rightfully considered the best scorer of the championship "Euro" in its entire history. He successfully won three semifinals at once, becoming the first in this indicator. In addition, Cristiano scored more than three goals during two different drawings. Five goals, he sent to the gate rivals head, including the last game with Wales. During the final meetings Ronaldo scored six goals in different matches, and by their total number became the record holder of the final tournaments "Euro" - 21. During the championship, this outstanding athlete scored three goals, reaching the previously unrivaled result of Michel Platini in 1984. In general, the loss of the Portuguese can be assessed as extremely difficult. However, despite it, success accompanied them.

The French lost chances

Parity was felt even in the semifinals. Both teams with the same score (2: 0) defeated rivals: the Portuguese are Welsh, and the French - Germans. And this game was practically on equal terms during the whole match. The French, by and large, were not inferior to their rivals in skill and reasonably hoped for victory. Mutual dangerous attacks and attacks on the gate replaced each other, not leading to results, but no particular acuity was observed. It was felt that the team acted cautiously, soberly assessing the capabilities of the enemy and trying not to take risks. In the second half in the French lineup there was a reshuffle. Coach Didier Deschamps "distinguished" Piette was replaced by midfielder Koman, who managed to aggravate the course of the game. He sent a successful pass to Antoine Grismann, but he was not able to deceive the Portuguese goalkeeper. Ten minutes passed, and the same Committee created another dangerous situation for the opponent, giving the ball to Grismann, but the header hit the gate. There was a third "golden chance", this time from Andre-Pierre Gignac. He threw all the same active Coma, but the blow was again unsuccessful and hit the post. Gignac later self-critically remarked that football is punishing arrogance for the hare.

Viscous and boring confrontation of equals

Both halves and commentators, and the fans rated as a rather boring sight. The Portuguese also missed their chance to open an account. When Nani sent a canopy to the ball directly into the goal, Lloris beat him off, hitting Quaresma, who seemed to react correctly, breaking through to the goalkeeper's side, but again managed to fend off. In general, as a whole, attacks were rare. Opponents clearly afraid to get carried away and led a positional rather than an offensive struggle, bogged down at a low pace. So all the time passed. The account remained mutual "dry", to the frustration of the stands. It became clear that everything would be decided in the course of additional time, inevitable with such a draw. And it happened.

"Culprit" of success

The hero of the day, and of the whole Euro-2016 championship, was the Portuguese striker Eder. His goal will be remembered for a long time, and perhaps even go down in the history of world football. This was beautiful. It was the 109th minute. Forward left from the left flank and moved closer to the center. His blow went from afar in the backstroke, having caught the French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris by surprise. The goalkeeper made a desperate throw to the other corner of the gate, in the direction opposite to that in which he was, but did not have time.

To reproach Lloris in nothing, he did everything he could, and in the meantime the Portuguese really showed great activity, demonstrating a fair will to win. Eder is almost a beginner in the team, this is his first goal in the national team. The forces were given to him, obviously, the parting words spoken to Cristiano Ronaldo, in which he expressed confidence that this young striker will be able to reverse the course of the draw. In Eder believed, and he tried to live up to expectations.

Triumph of the firm "Nike"

Football is football, but nobody forgets about business either. The fact that the team of winners of the championship "Euro-2016" is shod in the shoes of the world-famous company "Nike", was an occasion to remind athletes of the advantages of the Mercurial Vapor model. By the way, the French also put them on the match. And this again proves that the victory provides, of course, not the form as clothing, but the form as a degree of preparedness. Nevertheless, according to vice-president of the company Nike in Western Europe, Bert Hoyt, the brand he presented demonstrated "global superiority." Well, it's possible that the boots played their part ....

Championship lessons

Athletes, unfortunately, are not ours, showed the whole world how competition from the point of view of ethics should look. The French played well, and their support from the fans was active, perhaps even too much, because an excessive sense of responsibility acts depressingly on morale almost as much as its total absence. Reasons for hope were: in the semifinals of the Germans, world champions, they won very convincingly. However, the defeat did not cause resentment neither from the players themselves, nor from the fans. So it should be - in sports, the victory goes to someone who plays better and shows a greater will to win. A football festival, as the French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris noted, played a positive role. Regardless of the result, he raised the mood of Parisians, which fell after the autumn attacks.