Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will face France in the Euro 2016 final after the tournament hosts beat world champions Germany 2-0 on Thursday evening.
Didier Deschamps’ side will face Portugal at the Stade de France looking to complete a hat-trick of tournament victories on home soil.
With Griezmann once more irrepressible with two goals against Germany, they will be strong favourites to do that.
Portugal had already secured their place in the final on Wednesday night with a 2-0 victory against Wales.
Ronaldo put Portugal ahead with a superb header from a corner five minutes into the second half, and Wales were soon two goals behind before they had time to regroup.
ODDS
| Portugal | |
| France | |
| Draw |
Team News
William Carvalho is likely to return to Portugal’s starting line-up after missing their semi-final with Wales through suspension, while Pepe still struggles for fitness.
The Real Madrid defender sat out Wednesday’s night clash with a thigh injury, and trained alone yesterday in a bid to prove his fitness. Should he miss out in Paris, veteran Bruno Alves will likely start.
For hosts France there are no fresh injury concerns to trouble coach Deschamps, who has named an unchanged XI for the first for last Thursday’s semi-final.P
PREDICTION
Portugal have got to the final without playing well in any of their six matches in the tournament so far.
Other than putting a lot of crosses into the area for Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani, I am not sure what they offer going forward other than sitting back and waiting and waiting for the the opposition to make a mistake.
Their problem with doing that in this game is that they have not played a team as dangerous as France before. They have got so many players who will hurt Portugal if they give them time and space on the ball.
When you look at how France have got their goals, and who has got them, then they have got a lot of options on the field and on the bench in terms of who can do the damage.
I know it has been said that France are vulnerable at the back but they dealt pretty well with Germany in their semi-final.
Samuel Umtiti has come in and been outstanding in defence and, behind them, they have one of the best goalkeepers in the world in Hugo Lloris.
