Eder emerged as an unlikely hero for Portugal during theEuro 2016 final on Sunday, scoring the only goal in extra time in the team's 1-0 win over hosts France.Cristiano Ronaldo suffered a knee injury early in the contest and had to be replaced midway through a dull first half, and neither side was willing to take any real chances after the break.Les Bleus improved as time wore on but couldn't convert their opportunities, and the match went to extra time.Eder finally broke the deadlock in the 109th minute with a superb strike from distance. He couldn't have picked a better time to open his account for his country:France's late pressure amounted to nothing, as Portugal held on to win their first European title.As the tournament's official Twitter account shared, Les Bleus made no changes to their starting XI, while Pepe and William Carvalho returned for the visitors:A massive moth infestation stole the headlines before kick-off, leading to a lot of hilarity:France took control of the ball early, and a bout of poor communication between Pepe and Rui Patricio nearly saw Olivier Giroud take advantage. Portugal were aiming for the counter-attack, and Nani found space behind Laurent Koscielny but fired a volley well over the bar.A quick break led by Patrice Evra and Moussa Sissoko eventually saw the ball fall to Antoine Griezmann, who pulled the trigger from a tight angle but couldn't find the target.Ronaldo went down clutching his knee after just eight minutes, but after receiving treatment on the sidelines, he continued. PortuGOAL.net's Tom Kundert thought the Real Madrid man was in real pain, however:Just as Ronaldo made his way back onto the pitch, Patricio was forced to make his first great save, denying Griezmann's looping header after a Pepe slip. The ensuing corner saw Giroud try his luck with a header as well, but once again, Patricio stood firm.Ronaldo did what he could in the early going but kept reaching for his knee. Sixteen minutes into the match, he sat down in tears.He again left the pitch for treatment, although Yahoo Sport UK's Andrew Gaffney thought he'd be back:Both teams refused to push the tempo while Ronaldo was sidelined, and the three-time Ballon d'Or winner soon returned to the pitch for a second time. Ricardo Quaresma was told to warm up, however, and Ronaldo's exit seemed inevitable.His night finally came to an end after 23 minutes, when he needed a stretcher to leave the pitch.This wasn't the first time he had suffered an injury in the final of a major international tournament:The match lost all of its intensity once Ronaldo went off, with Sissoko firing a shot over Patricio's goal being the only chance of note. Les Bleus finally increased the pace again after the half-hour mark, and Sissoko again tried his luck, firing a hard shot straight at the goalkeeper.Raphael Guerreiro had a shot blocked, one of the few chances Portugal mustered, and Jose Fonte fired a header over the bar from the resulting corner.At half-time, fans and pundits alike had only one thing to talk about.The Associated Press' Rob Harris summed it up:France started the second half with renewed energy, and Pepe took a big shot from Sissoko after just minutes.Portugal sat back deep, inviting pressure from Les Bleus, and Dimitri Payet went on a couple of surging runs through the defence but couldn't find the opening. The West Ham United star's night came to an end before the hour mark, as France manager Didier Deschamps gambled by introducing speedy youngster Kingsley Coman.The Bayern Munich star immediately created a chance for Griezmann, but his low shot didn't bother Patricio. Coman's short burst of energy didn't add much to the match, however, and Bleacher Report's Jonathan Johnson dreaded the idea of extra time and penalties:Griezmann came agonisingly close to opening the score after 65 minutes, aiming a header just wide of the target after an excellent cross from Coman. Evra couldn't time his jump right after a good delivery from Griezmann, and Giroud couldn't keep a header down.The Arsenal man forced another fine save from Patricio, as France started to push for a winner, and he should have let a squared ball fall to Griezmann instead of taking it on himself.Eder andAndre-Pierre Gignac both made their way onto the pitch with roughly 10 minutes left, and Hugo Lloris had to make a double save to deny Nani and Quaresma.Sissoko stung Patricio's hands with a hard strike from outside the box, but France's push didn't have any energy. Stefan Bienkowski of DW Sports thought the final was representative of the tournament as a whole:Gignac had the winner on his right boot but hit the post from a tough angle in injury time, which wound up being the final chance before official Mark Clattenburg signaled for extra time.Pepe headed the first chance of extra time wide from an offside position, but chances were few in the first half. Eder put Lloris to work with a header in the middle of the French goal, and the ball was cleared before a Portuguese player could get near the rebound.Clattenburg handed Portugal a free-kick from a promising position for an apparent handball, even though replays showed it was Eder who handled the ball.Guerreiro fired the free-kick off the bar, and the rebound didn't fall to a team-mate.Momentum switched to Portugal in the second half of injury time, however, and substitute Eder finally broke the deadlock with a superb strike from distance, giving Lloris no chance.Sport Witness couldn't believe it:Per ESPN Stats & Info, the striker almost made tournament history with his goal:Deschamps introduced Anthony Martial as a last resort, but Portugal remained the more dangerous side, looking to end the contest on the counter.Ronaldo went mad on the Portugal bench as the final minutes passed and his team-mates moved closer to the title, and Les Bleus barely threatened Patricio's goal as Portugal easily defended their lead.Post-Match ReactionPepe, a rock in central defence, said Portugal had been inspired to win when they were dealt the huge blow of Ronaldo being substituted, per CNN International's John Sinnott: "It was tough, because we'd lost our main man. When he said he couldn't go on I told my mates we had to win it for him. This was the victory of the humble.We wrote a brilliant page in the history of Portuguese football."Ronaldo also spoke to reporters, saying he has a "small injury" and that winning his first championship with Portugal is "something unbelievable in my career, something I deserve.""Nobody believed in Portugal but we won," Ronaldo added.Sinnott also relayed comments from Deschamps, who praised thecontributionof the French fans: The overriding emotion is of huge disappointment. It's cruel to lose a final like that. I congratulate Portugal.We weren't cool-headed enough, clinical enough. It came down to small margins.It's hard to look at the positives at this moment.The crowd was behind us. We didn't play with the brakes on.The difference between three and four days rest for the finalists is a great deal.I'm very disappointed for the millions of French fans.Golden Boot winner Griezmann insisted that France could not have done any more, per Get French Football: "We do not have any regrets, we left everything out on the pitch."
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