Portugal are the champions of Europe.
They may not be the champions we all expected or even particularly wanted, but they managed to claim the first major trophy in their history in a tournament in which they won just a single game during 90 minutes, but remained unbeaten throughout.
Three draws in the group stages put them through as one of the best third-placed teams (they were the third-ranked third-placed team, if you were wondering) and they followed this up with an extra-time win over Croatia and a penaltiy shoot-out win over Poland before recording their first (and only) normal time win, against Wales.
But none of that matters, because Eder of all people came up trumps in extra-time of the final and stuck one in the back of Hugo Lloris’ net.
Portuguese fans the world over lost their minds as their curse looked like it was finally lifting, and all they had to do was sacrifice Cristiano Ronaldo’s left knee.
Ronaldo had criticised minnows Iceland for celebrating like they had won the Euros when they struck a late equaliser against Portugal in their opening game – and the Icelandic commentator certainly sounded like he thought they had.
And with Eder’s goal hitting the back of the net, it was the Portuguese commentators’ turn to lose their minds – and lose it they did.
Look, we know it’s an emotional moment for any fan to see their team win, especially after so many years of near-misses, so we can forgive the commentators for not knowing what quite to say. But we feel a little sorry for any Portuguese supporters who now have this incessant screaming sound-tracking their most cherished sporting memory.
Clip via Arquivo Portugal
Still, it’s heart-warming to see just how much it meant to them. We can’t really picture Michael Owen losing it in quite the same way.
