France’s Unsettled Score Against Portugal
The Quarter-Final clash between Portugal and France brings back memories of the EURO 2016 final at Saint-Denis Stadium in Paris, won by the Portuguese team and lost by the French side. According to Guy Stephan, Didier Deschamps' assistant, France wouldn’t have won the 2018 World Cup without that painful defeat.
"That final is not the last match we played against Portugal. We’ve played against them since then. We’ve won there, and we’ve also drawn. I think if it hadn’t been for that match, we wouldn’t have won the 2018 World Cup," Stephan said at a press conference in Paderborn, where the French team is based.
They learned from the mistakes made to avoid repeating them in Russia 2018 when France dominated the world, haunted by the memory of that 2016 disappointment. From that final, four players from each team are present in Germany 2024: the triumphant champions Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, Rui Patricio, and Danilo Pereira, and the suffering runners-up Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, N'Golo Kanté, and Kingsley Coman.
Eight years later, also in a EURO, now two steps away from the final, they meet again at a decisive moment, with the memory of that goal by Ederzito António Macedo Lopes, “Éder,” in extra time that changed Portugal’s history, making them champions for the first time, and altered France’s, who haven't won the continental tournament for 24 years.
Éder had only played twelve minutes in EURO 2016 when he burst into the Saint-Denis final in the 79th minute and became the unexpected hero of Portugal's first title, with an extra-time goal.
On July 10, 2016, in the 109th minute, he held off Lucas Hernández, cut inside, and unleashed a low right-footed shot from outside the box that Hugo Lloris couldn't reach, securing his place in the annals of Portuguese football. Cristiano Ronaldo was no longer on the field, having left in tears due to injury in the 25th minute. Antoine Griezmann was defeated.
The spotlight was on the two, the unparalleled figures of their teams. From nowhere, sidelined by Fernando Santos in the last group stage match (3-3 with Hungary), in the Round of 16 (1-0 to Croatia), in the quarter-finals (1-1 with Poland), and in the semi-finals (2-0 against Wales), where he remained immobile on the bench, Éder emerged to become the protagonist.
"Cristiano told me that I would be the one to score the winning goal. He passed me his strength, his energy. It was very important to score, it was hard work from our team since the start of the Euros. We were spectacular. The Portuguese people deserve it," he said after that match.
Since then, Portugal and France have faced each other three times. Once in EURO 2021, with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, two each at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. The match ended 2-2.
In the other two, France won one 1-0, with a goal from Kanté on November 14, 2020, and the other ended 0-0 on October 11, 2020, in their last encounter. Now they vie for EURO 2024.
