France vs. Portugal | UEFA Euro 2016 final preview.

The most awaited match for France and Portugal!

Portugal were very unpersuasive in the very beginning of the tournament. Fernando Santos’ players started with a 1-1 draw against the underdogs Iceland. In addition, Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t show anything from his skills during the first two games of the tournament. However, he was the reason Portugal reached the knockout stage, scoring twice against Hungary in a dramatic 3-3 draw, which meant Portugal took the 3rd position in their group.

Then, the Portuguese team met Croatia in the Round of 16 in the most unattractive game of the tournament. That was because Fernando Santos had completely changed the tactics of the team. However, after beating Modric and co. after extra time, Portugal beat Poland on penalties. The victory was again extremely lucky for Santos’ players, but they showed a really good tactical discipline on the pitch. So, at both ends, we can say, reaching the semi-finals was deserved by Portugal. Ronaldo showed his real face against Wales in the ½-final match, scoring a goal and assisting to Nani.

France’s only real test during the Euro 2016 was against Germany in the semi-final game. The Frenchmen went through their group very easily. The Blues recorded 2 consecutive victories against Romania and Albania. Then, they finished with a 0-0 draw against Switzerland, securing the 1st place in the Group “A”.

The first match of the knockout stage for France was against the Rep. of Ireland. It’s surprising how hard The Blues played against The Green Army. Deschamps saw his team losing 0-1 at the half time and changed the tactics during the second half, which led to a turnaround – 2-1 in France’s favour. Luckily, France faced Iceland in the quarterfinals, which was the easiest game for Deschamps’ players during the whole tournament. But, France put on display a wonderful performance against the world champions Germany and deservedly the host nation will take part in the final match!

Possible starting XIs:

• France (4-2-3-1): Hugo Lloris, Bacary Sagna, Patrice Evra, Laurent Koscielny, Samuel Umtiti, Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet, Moussa Sissoko, Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud.
• Portugal (4-4-2): Rui Patricio, Cedric Soares, Jose Fonte, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro, Danilo Pereira, Joao Mario, Renato Sanches, Adrien Silva, Luis Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Head to Head:

Portugal have really serious troubles when playing against France. There have been 24 official matches between these two teams. Didier Deschamps’ team has a huge advantage over its opponent. France have won 18 of these matches, as they are on a run of 10 consecutive victories against Portugal! Moreover, all the Portugal’s 5 wins against The Blues are in friendly games. The last time the Portuguese team recorded a victory against France was in 1975.

There have been 2 games at European championships between France and Portugal. Both matches have been in the semi-final’s stage of the tournaments (1984 and 2000). Both games have finished with victories for France after extra time. Portugal and The Blues have faced in another semi-final game, but this time was in the World Cup 2006. The match finished with a 1-0 victory for The Blues, with Zidane’s only goal in the 33rd minute.

Key battle:

Portugal’s leader and best player Cristiano Ronaldo has a really good chance to win his first major international competition. The forward broke several records at the Euro 2016. He became the only player to score in 4 European championships. Now, he is “hungry” for the trophy and nothing is going to stop him!

On the other hand, Antoine Griezmann showed really good performance during all the France matches so far. The striker of Atletico Madrid has now scored 6 goals in 6 matches for the Blues at the Euro 2016. So, he is the main reason France to reach the final of the European championship.

We made a big step towards our goal, but the most important match is on Sunday and that’s what I told the guys in the locker room. We only have two days to prepare. We have to get in the final in top condition. We will use every minute to recover. I want to thank all the players that have won this very difficult game. We understand what it means to beat the world champion Germany. Without a doubt, the support of the audience had an important role. We cannot solve all the problems of our country, but we can give to all the Frenchmen emotions to make them forget about the problems. Today we managed to unite the nation!Didier Deschamps