Despite missing most of the Euro 2016 final with a knee injury,
Cristiano Ronaldo did enough to earn a spot in the team of the tournament.
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of four
Portugal players to have been named in the official Euro 2016 team of the
tournament, but Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale has missed out.
Portugal captain Ronaldo scored
three goals and supplied three assists to help Fernando Santos’ side claim
their country’s first major international trophy.
The Madrid star was replaced by
Ricardo Quaresma in the 25th minute of Sunday’s 1-0 extra-time victory
over hosts France, but his prior contribution had been enough to warrant a spot
in the 11 players picked by a panel of experts.
The #EURO2016 team of the tournament as picked by a
panel of technical expertshttps://t.co/k2PYjTacZc pic.twitter.com/jQuWUvK65M
— UEFA EURO 2016 (@UEFAEURO) July 11, 2016
Ronaldo is joined by fellow
winners Rui Patricio, Pepe and Raphael Guerreiro, but Renato Sanches, named
Young Player of the Tournament, is not included.
However, Ronaldo’s Madrid
team-mate Bale has been overlooked despite scoring three goals and providing
one assist in Wales’ march to an unprecedented semi-final, though Joe Allen and
Aaron Ramsey make the cut.
Antoine Griezmann, named Player
of the Tournament, scored six goals and laid on a further two and is joined in
the XI by Dimitri Payet.
Germany are the only other nation
to be represented, with Joshua Kimmich, Jerome Boateng and Toni Kroos making
the grade.
The team was selected by a
13-strong panel including former Manchester United managers Alex Ferguson and
David Moyes, Savo Milosevic, Gareth Southgate and Thomas Schaaf.
The team in full (4-2-3-1): Rui
Patricio; Joshua Kimmich, Jerome Boateng, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro; Toni Kroos,
Joe Allen; Antoine Griezmann, Aaron Ramsey, Dimitri Payet; Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Real Madrid man made history
with a wonderful back-heel to draw his side level in a crucial Group E decider,
and came up with a second goal to keep Portugal alive
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has
become the first man to score at four European Championship finals after
netting his first strike of Euro 2016.
The Real Madrid man broke his duck
in spectacular fashion to pull his nation level 2-2 with Hungary.
Ronaldo turned the ball home with an inspired backheel
to equalise 50 minutes into the game.
Hungary, however, lost no time in regaining the lead
for the third time when Balazs Dzsudzsak scored just minutes later, but
Ronaldo was not finished as he headed home to restore parity once again.
The Portugal striker’s first goal for his nation at a
finals came in Euro 2004, when he scored a late strike in a 2-1 defeat at the
hands of Greece.
Four years later he was on target once, while in Euro
2012 he netted three times to finish joint-top scorer with Mario Gomez and
Mario Mandzukic.
Man-of-the-match Pepe told his Portugal team-mates to
win Euro 2016 for injured captain Cristiano Ronaldo and they delivered.
It was an historic result as Portugal claimed their
first major title via a 1-0 win over hosts France after extra time in Paris on
Sunday.
Eder came off the bench and scored the 109th-minute
winner, but Portugal faced an uphill battle from the outset, following a
knee injury to Ronaldo, who left the field in tears in the first half.
However, Portugal used Ronaldo’s injury as
motivation as they were finally crowned champions of Europe, having lost
the Euro 2004 final on home soil against Greece.
“This was tough as we lost our main man and we had all
our hopes on him because he can score a goal at any moment,” said Pepe, who
lifted the Champions League trophy alongside Ronaldo for Real Madrid in May.
“When he couldn’t go on I tried to tell our team-mates
that we had to win it for him.
“The coach set us up very well, the subs came on at
the right time too. We poured our blood, sweat and tears into this.
“We’ve written a brilliant page in the book of
Portuguese football history.”
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