Euro Vision: France take on Portugal in the Euro 2016 final. Can Atletico Madrid’s Griezmann get revenge over Real’s Ronaldo for last month’s Champions League loss? Gulf News’ Sports Desk preview the Euro 2016 final between France and Portugal. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv
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00:00The final is upon us and it's Portugal versus France. France looking for their
00:09third ever European Championship title and Portugal, against the Formbook, are
00:14looking for their first. Joining me in the studio to discuss it is sports
00:18reporter Ashley Hammond and our sports writer Abdulrahman El-Khalawi. Now
00:23gentlemen, certainly Portugal's win over Wales was perhaps exemplified by the fact
00:28that Wales were missing a couple of key players. How much deeper are they going
00:32to need to dig to get their hands on the prize? Yeah I think this is another level
00:36entirely to what they've experienced so far. I think you could argue they've
00:41maybe not had the easiest run to a final but they've certainly been one of the
00:44cheekiest teams in European Championship history. Through the group they drew
00:48three times, they finished third in the group. You know in other tournaments they
00:51wouldn't have qualified even from the group. And on their way to the final
00:55they had Croatia, they got a lucky goal, extra time, penalties against Poland. I
01:01think you could argue against Wales 2-0, they had a lucky three minutes there
01:06really wasn't it? I mean a quick three minutes where they were able to turn the
01:09game around and Wales weren't at their best. I think Croatia have been their
01:13biggest challenge so far this tournament and in comparison to France I think
01:19they're just another level entirely. I think they're gonna have to really up
01:22their game but they've got the players capable of doing that and luck has been
01:25on their side so anything could happen. I agree with Hammond fully and to add on
01:30his points and what he said, I believe Portugal, what they did in the
01:34Wales game compared to any other game they played in the tournament, they had
01:38good linkage between their midfield and their attack and if they can do that
01:41again in the France game that definitely would be a
01:44great thing to do. And they need also Cristiano Ronaldo to be at his focus and
01:48at his very best and by that I mean he has to commit to the position the coach
01:52puts him in because when he moves a lot while he gets to snatch a goal or two
01:57and in this movement it may be dangerous for his team's defence because
02:02considering that France are experts at counter-attacks so that may
02:07lead to a goal or two if he continues to play this way. But do you think Portugal
02:11are relying too much on Cristiano Ronaldo? I mean you know one-man teams
02:15can never win an entire tournament that's a lot of pressure and what if he
02:19gets injured surely they've got to have a game plan. I think at every stage of
02:23the latter stages of the tournament I think people have come out of their own
02:28like Karesma even to get the winner against Croatia. I don't think you can
02:32argue it's just Ronaldo but obviously if he gets injured or anything
02:36happens they'll miss him terribly but I just don't think a team can get to the
02:40final on one man alone I don't think so. I wouldn't say that Cristiano Ronaldo
02:44they're actually relying too much on him because sometimes you even see him he
02:48asks for the ball too much sometimes he even stresses his own teammates when
02:53they fail to do what he asked them to do so I believe he wants them to rely on
02:57him he wants to score goals he's hungry for goals and he wants he knows that
03:00this could be his last tournament and he wants to win the title so it could be
03:04stressful and doesn't play his role well as a captain I mean considering he's 30
03:09years old 31 years old now he still you don't feel that he's mature enough to
03:13advise his teammates on the pitch whenever they're losing his he's the
03:17most stressed player on the pitch when whenever they're winning however you'd
03:20see that he's talking to his teammates and he's telling them what to do
03:25well and this won't be good in a game as stressful as the the final against
03:30France. Now France are the obvious favourites going into this final but how
03:35wary are they gonna be of a lucky Portugal break? Well they should they
03:40have to be very wary I mean that Portugal have got this far with some
03:44very as we've said very lucky breaks and that's all it will take again against
03:48France. France will know this there's a lot riding on this game France
03:51nationally the whole feeling behind hosting the tournament and obviously the
03:55the events which happen in November there's a real sort of united feel to
04:00France at the moment and there will be a lot of pressure they could break under
04:03that pressure they really have to keep concentrating especially the back. I mean
04:08we had a lot of comments on on France's defense before the Germany game and
04:12surprisingly enough they played they played really well and they were able to
04:15keep the score to a 2-0 when after they scored and they got back however
04:20because they're a counter-attack team the France they attack too much their
04:26backs Evra and Sanya they fail to return fast whenever whenever they lose the
04:31ball so this could be really dangerous and they need to keep this they need to
04:35keep this out of Portugal's hands because they have Portugal have Nani
04:39they have Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo and those those strikers they can make the
04:44difference so we need to be careful. So what weaknesses of France going to need
04:49to cover I mean they did look pretty solid against Germany but no team is
04:53perfect where do you think they're going to be concentrating in the build-up to
04:56this game? If you look at their goals so far I think they've conceded four goals
05:00so far in six games this tournament two of those were from a penalty against
05:04Ireland and Romania the the other two are against Iceland and they were both
05:09quite innocuous crosses that should have been handled better in the in the box
05:14and even Rio Ferdinand's gone on record saying that France look very shaky when
05:18a cross comes in so I'd say they particularly need to look out for
05:22conceding an early penalty from defensive madness by putting your foot
05:27in leaving your foot in and and not really handling a situation a panic
05:31situation in the box they also need to really and I'm sure they've been
05:34practicing this in the build-up to this they really need to get a handle on
05:37crosses in the box it's against Germany it's not as though Germany didn't have
05:41the chances Germany had a lot of chances and I think they were they got away
05:45lightly on a couple of those so yeah they really need to shape up against
05:49Portugal. I think they need to be careful and they need to understand their
05:54striker well considering they have Giroud at the front sometimes they give
05:59him a ball for him to run on and this this doesn't work well with with Giroud
06:03it may work with Griezmann but definitely not with Giroud so they need
06:07to understand the mentality of their own striker so they can be accurate and they
06:12have the they can snatch a goal when they attack and they also need to give
06:16Pogba the freedom he deserves. In the two games before when they played
06:20Germany and Iceland Pogba had more of a defensive role which doesn't work quite
06:24with him he's more effective at the front so they need to give him that
06:29because he will give them the difference and he may even score goals
06:32because he shoots from far we all know that and it may help them if they can
06:36snatch an early goal. Okay guys so to protect your credibility I'm not going
06:41to put you on the spot and ask you who you think is going to win tonight it's
06:4450-50 I'm more interested to know do you can this match be won in 90 minutes? I
06:48think my credibility's gone already over the course of the tournament I put my
06:52I put my house on France to win I think and will it be won in 90 minutes yeah I
06:57think so 2-0 France. I think from Portugal's perspective they wouldn't be
07:01looking for a third extra time so I think that Portugal will keep the idea
07:06of playing extra time on the table if in case France are dominating the game but
07:11I wouldn't say that France would be looking for an extra time so if they
07:16keep if they play with that mentality Portugal play with that mentality they
07:20would be in danger because France would be looking to finish the game in the 90
07:23minutes. So thank you very much gentlemen this evening's final begins at 11
07:27p.m. UAE time and you can follow live text of the match on golfnews.com by
07:32visiting the fixtures page we will have a full match report up after the game
07:36don't forget to join us on Twitter at Golf News Sport using the hashtag
07:40Euro 2016