Who will win EURO 2016? - Portugal or France?

France will take on the 2004 losing finalists Portugal on Sunday at the Stade de France.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Atletico Madrid’s EURO highest goal scorer, Antoine Griezmann will go head to head for the first time since May’s Champions League final.

 A win for Les Bleus would see them join Spain and Germany on three titles. France have won last ten meetings with Portugal, dating back to 1975.


Griezmann scored a brace in France’s semi-final with Germany, making him the tournament’s leading scorer with 6 goals to his name so far. France took an unexpected lead from the penalty spot on the stroke of half time. Their lead was doubled when Griezmann poked home a loose ball after some brilliant work from Paul Pogba.

Samuel Umtiti, winning only his second ever national cap, produced a stand out performance at centre-back and is likely to be preferred to Adil Rami for the final. Moussa Sissoko retained his place in the starting eleven, despite N’Golo Kante being available again after serving a suspension. The Newcastle midfielder’s showing in midfield will certainly have given Didier Deschamps a selection headache.

Despite playing at home, UEFA have classified France as the ‘away’ side for the match, meaning they’ll don their predominantly white strip on Sunday.

Portugal reached their first major tournament final since 2004 with a 2-0 win over Wales. The win was Fernando Santos’ sides’ first in 90 minutes during the entire tournament, but it came just in time. Ronaldo was at his brilliant best, scoring one and assisting the other. His bullet head gave Portugal the lead early in the second half before his mis-hit shot was diverted home by Nani minutes later.

Central midfielder Renato Sanches is expected to start in the final ahead of Andre Gomes. The 18-year-old has been a revelation in France and is the youngest player in the two squads. Real Madrid defender Pepe trained on his own on Friday as he fights to recover from a thigh injury which ruled him out of the semi-final.

England’s Mark Clattenburg will officiate the game. The Premier League referee has shown 13 yellow cards in the 3 matches he has overseen at the tournament.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• France have won their last 10 games against Portugal. Their overall record is W18, D1, L5.
• Portugal last avoided defeat against the French in 1975, when they won a friendly 2-0 in Paris.
• France's 10-game winning streak includes the three previous meetings at major tournaments, all of which came at the semi-final stage. Michel Platini hit a late winner as France won 3-2 in extra time at Euro 84, while Zinedine Zidane scored a golden goal (via a penalty) as the French won 2-1 at Euro 2000. And another Zidane spot-kick put France in the 2006 World Cup final with a 1-0 win.
• The sides have met twice in friendlies in the last two years. Les Bleus won 2-1 at the Stade de France in October 2014 with goals from Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba (Ricardo Quaresma replied with a penalty), while Mathieu Valbuena's free-kick gave France a 1-0 victory in Lisbon last September.

PORTUGAL

• Portugal have played the most games in the history of the European Championship without ever winning the tournament (34, before this final). Should they beat France, that unwanted record will pass to England (31 matches).
• They are the first team to reach the final of the European Championship after ending third in the group stage. It has happened twice before at World Cups but Argentina (in 1990) and Italy (in 1994) both ended as runners-up.
• Portugal are unbeaten in their 13 competitive fixtures under Fernando Santos with eight of their nine wins by single-goal margins.
• Cristiano Ronaldo has also failed to score with any of his 43 direct free-kicks at major international tournaments.
• All nine of his goals at the European Championship have been scored from inside the penalty area. Five of those have been headers.

FRANCE

• France have won three of their previous four finals at World Cups or Euros . They only time they ended as runners-up was at the 2006 World Cup - they drew 1-1 with Italy before losing on penalties.
• They are unbeaten in their last 18 games at World Cups or Euros on home soil, winning 16 and drawing two. Their last defeat came at the inaugural European Championship in 1960 (they lost both their games - a semi-final against Yugoslavia and third-place play-off against Czechoslovakia).
• Victory would see France join Germany and Spain as three-time European champions.
• Of France's 13 goals at Euro 2016, 11 have been scored from the 42nd minute onwards.
• The record for most goals by a team at the Euros is held by France (14 in five matches in 1984).
• France are the last side to win the European Championship final after conceding the opening goal (they hit back from 1-0 down to beat Italy 2-1 in 2000).
• Antoine Griezmann can become the third Frenchman to finish as the sole top scorer at major tournament, following Just Fontaine (1958 World Cup) and Michel Platini (Euro 84).
• Didier Deschamps could become the second man to win the European Championship as a player and coach, after Germany's Berti Vogts - who was an unused substitute in 1972 and coach in 1996).

Who will win EURO 2016? - Portugal or France?