Search icon

Sport

10th Jul 2016

Cristiano Ronaldo cries tears of joy at Eder’s Euro 2016-clinching goal

An emotional moment

Simon Lloyd

Bloody hell.

France were going to win Euro 2016, no doubt about it.

Not only were they the hosts, they had the best squad at the tournament to boot. Having seen off Ireland and Iceland in the knockout stages, victory over Germany seemed to be the toughest test they’d face.

All they had to do was beat Portugal – a side that had only won a single game in 90 minutes. And to make their task even more straightforward, Cristiano Ronaldo’s knee injury meant that his night was over with less than a quarter of the ninety minutes gone.

It was a matter of time before the French got the opening goal, surely…

Except that didn’t happen.

As is often the case in football, the unexpected happened. With the game reaching extra-time, up popped Eder with ten minutes of extra time to go to rifle home a winner for the Portuguese. Definitely not in the script.

Not for the first time in the night, Cristiano Ronaldo – watching from the touchlines with his heavily-strapped knee – was in tears. This time however, they were tears of joy…