Portugal won their first major tournament ever, despite losing their superstar Cristiano Ronaldo early in the game—all thanks to a late, late (108th minute) wonder-rocket from Éderzito António Macedo Lopes, aka Éder. And what a goal.The Euro 2016 finals started out with pace and style, as France launched an aggressive attack, checkered with (surprisingly) an enthralling Portugal's counter. But things took a turn in the 25th minute as a second injury took out Cristiano Ronaldo. The host country vs. one of the best players in the world narrative would have to be snuffed out from early on.Here's a clip of the injury that took him out (note the moth invasion):
Damn, that's a sad face.The level of play dipped for a while in the middle, but around the 75th minute mark, things started to heat up with a series of nail biting chances. Take this try from Portugal that had Hugo Lloris showing his full reach.
Then France came in with this opportunity in stoppage time that was just mind-blowingly close to going in. André-Pierre Gignac received a pass inside of the box and found himself in this fortunate—but ultimately unfortunate—position.
Sacre bleu.Things would continue this way for France, as the game went into extra time. But ultimately, that was just how France's night would go, as they would lose to a team that mostly absorbed pressure, and had very few shots on goal—as they did for the majority of the tournament. It wasn't France's night—that's because it's likely a national holiday for Portugal from here on out.UPDATE:Then there's this.
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Does anyone want to tell them?pic.twitter.com/EqkE1TsvCN
— FootySection (@FootySection) July 10, 2016