Tag: Euro 2016

Portugal reveals Cristiano Ronaldo’s emotional (and shirtless) Euro 2016 victory speech

Like an Oscar acceptance speech, but without any clothes to get in the way

(Seleções de Portugal)

As another international break draws to a close, the Portuguese national team’s official Facebook page has shared previously unseen video of Cristiano Ronaldo’s dressing room speech after he watched his teammates beat France in the Euro 2016 final. Naturally, he was not wearing a shirt when he delivered these words.

Cristiano thanked everyone down to the medical staff and called the occasion one of the happiest moments of his life (even going so far as to say that he swears on his son’s life). Presumably they edited out the part where he shakes his fist at the sky and shouts “This is one you’ll never have, Leo Messi! Never!!!”

The best part, however, was when he finally concluded and all of his teammates do his signature “SIIIIIIIIIII!” cry back at him while he nods approvingly. It’s easy to see why this was one of the greatest moments of his life.


Mark Clattenburg follows Sergio Ramos’ lead on body art

(Mick Mahon Tattoo/Facebook)
(Mick Mahon Tattoo/Facebook)

Mark Clattenburg was the referee for both the 2016 Champions League final and the Euro 2016 final — an impressive combination of honors that few people would ever talk about since, you know, he’s a referee. But the never attention shy Clattenburg came up with a way to make this a topic of conversation amongst anyone who sees his left arm by getting tattoos of the competitions’ logos/trophies.

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Cristiano Ronaldo coaches Portugal to Euro 2016 title, cements the Summer of Cristiano

After getting stretchered off in the first half of the Euro 2016 final and wiping the tear drowned moths from his face, Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t hide in self-pity — he came back out and took on a new job for Portugal: head coach. With a brace on his knee, Cristiano hobbled up and down the touchline, shouting instructions that may or may not have drowned out those of actual manager Fernando Santos.

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Moth consoles tearful Cristiano Ronaldo after Euro 2016 final injury

ronaldotears

A collision with France’s Dimitri Payet early in the first half of the Euro 2016 final left Cristiano Ronaldo with a badly injured knee. Though he isn’t normally one to receive the world’s empathy, watching him exhaust every ounce of his considerable willpower to try and continue before tearfully going off for treatment twice and eventually having to be stretchered off in the 25th minute was a genuinely heartbreaking sight. Even for one moth in particular.

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Paul Pogba makes being stuck in a hotel for a month seem fun

Before France’s 2-0 win over Germany in the Euro 2016 semifinals, Paul Pogba gave the France Football Federation’s YouTube channel a look at what he does on tournament off days. After being cooped up in the team hotel for about a month straight already, you’d think there would be a lot of boredom and misery, but for Pogba it’s a lot music, dancing, and massages.

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Antoine Griezmann takes a bow after proving himself to be the star of Euro 2016 on and off the pitch

So much of Antoine Griezmann’s is a response to disappointments. He was forced to move to Spain at a young age after being rejected from French clubs for being “too small” and now he’s France’s top scorer at the Euros. He was in tears on the pitch after France’s quarterfinal loss to Germany at the 2014 World Cup and at Euro 2016 he scored both goals to beat them 2-0 in the semifinals. At the Champions League final in May, he missed an important penalty for Atletico Madrid as they lost to Real Madrid and in the match against Germany he converted an important penalty to open the scoring.

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France make Mesut Özil regret his pre-match banter

One of the most notable aspects of this expanded edition of the Euros is the imbalance of the knockout stage. Part of that has been down to the new structure of the tournament with 24 teams and four of six third-place finishers in the group stage advancing, and part has been big teams starting slow and smaller ones playing out of their skin. But the result was Germany battling Italy in the quarterfinals while France made easy work of Iceland.

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