Ronaldo out after an injury to his left knee. These are words that any fan of team Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo did not want to hear in the Euro 2016 final versus France. Least of all the Madrid man himself.
After an early challenge in which Dimitri Payet collided with Ronaldo, impacting his left knee, the Portugal captain went down clearly in pain.
France take on Portugal in the Euro 2016 final on Sunday in what promises to be a titanic battle.
Oh, who are we kidding?
Portugal are going to play the same blasé football that they have for the entire tournament, and we can only hope that France break their defense early enough to make them come out of their shell. Otherwise, get ready for a long battle of attrition, and possibly penalties.
Anyways, following that cheery outlook on proceedings, let's take a look at some of the interesting facts coming into this match.
The stage is set for the final of UEFA Euro 2016, and it’s France vs. Portugal at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Here's how to watch on TV, online and streaming the UEFA Euro 2016 Final between France and Portugal.
Over 80,000 spectators will watch Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann take on Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Renato Sanches. The match kicks off on Sunday, July 10 at 3 p.m. ET.
The potential is there to make the England national team job an unheralded success, just not right now.
Euro 2016 outlined emphatically how a mixture of mental fragility and poor coaching results in outlandish failure, to the point of embarrassment and humiliation on a mass scale.
Too often the discussion revolves around potential that should be realized rather than world-class performances that actually are on show at major tournaments.
Much like Spain in the 1990s, the talent at the disposal of any incoming manager should be an appealing prospect.
Six years ago, the France national team was on strike at the World Cup. Two years ago, the German national team was celebrating their World Cup triumph. Earlier today, the Germans were bossing the French around like the varsity scrimmaging the JV in practice. How things can change in a hurry.
The first half, as mentioned, was a lecture in everything this German generation has become known for. For stretches, they barely let one of the best teams in the world out of their own half. Then it became a lecture in everything they've become known for not doing.
The rise, the connection, the shake of the back of the net and the famous celebration. Cristiano Ronaldo's header can only be described as towering. His elevation made him look like he was floating above the Welsh defenders as he smashed a beautiful service past the waiting goalkeeper. Portugal being criticized for not finishing off a single game in this tournament in regular time, left no question in the minds of the doubters as they showed Wales the exit door with a 2-0 decisive win. Ronaldo now has the chance to do what Messi could not do in June... win a major tournament.
Thomas Muller is one of the most dangerous attacking players in the world. He's deceptive on the ball, tricky in the box and lethal on goal.
Which sounds weird, because Thomas Muller is the crazy uncle of international soccer. Thomas Muller is international soccer's crazy uncle because he behaves exactly like your crazy uncle.
Your crazy uncle isn't crazy, per se, but he's definitely a little . . . touched. He "marches to the beat of his own drummer", or whatever.
Andre-Pierre Gignac burst onto footballing radars everywhere by finishing the 2008-09 French Ligue 1 season as the top goalscorer. At the time, the young Frenchman was reportedly drawing interest from clubs like Arsenal, Manchester United and Juventus.
Fast forward seven years and the now 30-year-old Gignac plays his club football with Tigres in Monterrey, Mexico. Is this a story of lost talent, a young player who achieved too much, too fast? Hardly.
Portugal were always favorites to overcome Wales and advance to the Euro 2016 final, but, for 50 minutes in Lyon, Wales appeared ready to upset the footballing hierarchy once more. It took an inspirational header from Cristiano Ronaldo and a fortunate goal from Nani for Portugal to overcome Wales 2-0 in their Euro 2016 semifinal.
Cristiano Ronaldo is very good at sports, and, more specifically, very VERY good at soccer. Mostly.
Ronaldo has not had the best Euro 2016 so far, but his Portugal side is still in the semifinals so there's time for him to turn things around. One great way to do that would be to let someone else take free kicks.
"But Ronaldo is good at free kicks," you say. Not right now, he isn't.