Paris: France want to write football “history” by winning the Euro 2016 final today at home six years after a damaging player revolt and as the country recovers from the Paris attacks, captain Hugo Lloris said yesterday.
With Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal also riding a wave of national fervour ahead of today’s final at the Stade France, the home team are suddenly national heroes after several years of scandal and disappointment.
Lloris told of the enormous effort made to lift the French team out of “crisis” and into contention for a potential title and also the impact of the November 13 attacks which left 130 dead.
“We have come through a crisis in French football,” the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper told a press conference.
“We have climbed back up the slope, we have done it step by step.
“But building a great team takes a lot of time. With the Germans and the Spanish, success was not created overnight. You cannot buy experience.
“Tomorrow we have the chance to go into French football history, it is a unique time in a player’s career,” said Lloris.
France won the World Cup on home territory in 1998, when coach Didier Deschamps captained the side. Deschamps was called upon to recreate the side in 2012 after the national team hit rock bottom with a player strike at the 2010 World Cup.
The suspension of star striker Karim Benzema this year over his link to an attempted sextape blackmail added to the troubles.
Defender Bacary Sagna said the 2010 revolt over a dispute between striker Nicolas Anelka and then-coach Raymond Domenech “was clearly a mistake” that had scarred the national side.
“We took French football to an all-time low, we showed a very bad image. It has taken a lot of effort, a lot of work to improve our reputation. Six years on, we are getting closer,” said Sagna.
Lloris told how France’s run to the final had given the country “an escape” after the trauma of the November 13 attacks, which included suicide bombers trying to get into the national stadium as France played Germany.
“Of course we’ve had some very difficult times this year, both with those tragic events, but also with events that have gone on off the field,” he said.
“The French people really needed to escape via this competition, and sport has this strength: to unite people.”
FIVE MEMORABLE france-portugal ENCOUNTERS
n The most high-scoring encounter between the teams saw France prevail courtesy of a hat-trick from Reims striker Just Fontaine, 13-goal top scorer at the previous year’s World Cup in Sweden. In front of 48,111 fans at Stade de Colombes in Paris, goals from Fontaine, Pierre Grillet and Lucien Muller put France 3-0 up inside 22 minutes. Belenenses forward Matateu and Domiciano Cavem trimmed the deficit later in the first half. But Fontaine’s quick-fire second-half double completed his hat-trick and gave France victory, rendering Matateu’s 76th-minute effort immaterial.
France left Stade de Colombes for the Parc des Princes in 1972, but they returned to their former home three years later for a friendly against Portugal. Neither side had graced a major tournament since the prestigious 1966 World Cup and a low-quality contest was decided by two errors. Benfica great Nene put Portugal ahead in the 21st minute after France goalkeeper Rene Charrier failed to gather a low cross. Shortly after the hour, Marinho capitalised on a loose touch by Jean-Francois Jodar and finished with a deft lob to seal what would remain to be Portugal’s last victory over France.
In the first competitive encounter between the teams, hosts and favourites France progressed after a dizzyingly dramatic contest at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome. Jean-Francois Domergue gave France a 25th-minute lead with a blistering free-kick, only for Rui Jordao’s looping 74th-minute header to send the game to extra time. The Angola-born striker struck again in the ninth minute of the extra period with a deflected volley, but Domergue stabbed in an equaliser before Jean Tigana’s jinking run teed up French talisman Michel Platini to slam home a 119th-minute winner. Platini would be on target again in the final as France defeated Spain 2-0 to claim their first major trophy.
Another last-four clash, another last-gasp winner by a French poster boy. Seeking to complete a world and European double, Roger Lemerre’s France fell behind to Portugal in Brussels when Nuno Gomes’s snapshot earned Portugal a 19th-minute lead. But Nicolas Anelka set up Thierry Henry for an equaliser in the 51st minute, sending the game to extra time. With penalties beckoning, Portugal right-back Abel Xavier blocked a goal-bound shot from Sylvain Wiltord with his hand and after lengthy Portuguese protests, Zinedine Zidane swept in a golden goal penalty. There was more late drama in the final, and another golden goal, as David Trezeguet’s 103rd-minute strike sank Italy.
Zidane was on target again six years later as France emerged victorious from the most prestigious game between the two sides prior to Euro 2016. Having reversed his decision to retire from international football before the tournament, Zidane had already inspired France to knockout-round wins over Spain and Brazil by the time he came up against his former Real Madrid team-mate Luis Figo in Munich. As in 2000, he decided the game from the penalty spot, beating Ricardo from 12 yards in the 33rd minute after Henry had been tripped by Ricardo Carvalho. Zidane netted again from the spot in the final – on his last professional appearance – but was later sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi as France lost on penalties to Italy in Berlin.
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