SWANSEA CITY REJECTED STRIKER WINS EURO FOR PORTUGAL

In the under-dogs European Championship the under-dog is the top dog.  Portugal defeated hosts and overwhelming favourites France, defeated the  odds, defeated the fact they were without their captain and talisman, with  Cristiano Ronaldo stretchered off injured, to win their first ever major  tournament.

Eder's late long range strike gave Portugal the unlikeliest of leads
The only goal came deep in extra-time from substitute Eder, who flopped at  Swansea City and now plays in France, and who instantly became a national  hero as he held off Laurent Koscielny to beat Hugo Lloris with a powerful  low shot from fully 25 yards.

For France this was a shuddering, despairing jolt to their dreams of  winning a tournament on home soil for a third successive time. Instead, in  a poor final, they failed.

After 50 matches, 107 goals and more than 2.3million spectators in 10 host cities the final was reached; back where it all began on June 10 when France nervously took on Romania. Their confidence has sky-rocketed since then, especially after the semi-final triumph in a febrile Marseille against Germany, a team has emerged, new heroes also, and a sense of expectation that France were heading towards a destined goal.

Portugal had also improved. After finishing third in their group, a group they should have dominated, they have ground their way forward to this final and knew this was, after the disappointments of the Golden

Generation, their golden opportunity. Their chance. It was there in their faces, the pumped-up pose of Ronaldo summed it up, how sad that was to soon prove to be, but it was matched by French desire also. Patrice Evra, the veteran, the ‘uncle’ of this team, had gone from player to player in the warm-up, hammering it home. As if it were needed.

Ronaldo left the pitch in tears during the first-half:

The opening was predictable. France hurtled into it with Paul Pogba slashing at a volley from the edge of the penalty area and then Blaise Matuidi winning a header with the ball dropping to Antoine Griezmann who sliced his shot into the side-netting before he did far better in forcing a superb one-handed save by Rui Patricio, pushing his looping header over as he quickly adjusted his feet. Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet, and, in particular, Moussa Sissoko. They all went for it with coach Didier Deschamps rightly demanding a quick start; an immediate impact.

There was more concern for Portugal coach Fernando Santos. Nani had chested down a clever long ball forward by Cedric Soares and half-volleyed over but then Payet caught Ronaldo in a block tackle with the captain falling in pain, clearly hurt.