Portugal managed to win two European titles in a row after more than 104 years without getting any trophies
Situation of Portugal
Portugal arrived having fallen in the semi-finals of Euro 2012 against Spain on penalties making a great performance. At the 2014 World Cup he would fall without going past the group stage which was initially affordable for a semi-finalist in the last international tournament.
All this and a defeat in the first day of the qualifier for the next Euro, provoked the dismissal as coach of the Portuguese national team of Paulo Bento.
After this substitution and the discomfort that was not brought very good sensations for the combined luso, which resorted to the already experiment ex-coach of the Greek national team, such as Fernando Manuel Costas Santos, who made a perfect journey to his way to the Euro, getting 18 of 18 points in the qualifier.
Group stage and Euro 2016 draw
At the time of the draw Portugal, would enter the bomb 1 along with the other European football powers: Germany, Spain, England, Belgium and France
She was paired in Group F alongside Hungary, Iceland and Austria. They would initially seem affordable, but as the matches were played they would come as surprises.
The Portuguese national team would play their first field match against a novata Iceland who was participating for the first time in an international championship. The dominance of the game was for portugal's national team with 26 shots and 73% possession although the match ended 1–1 with a goal from Nani.
The second game would be played at the Parc des Princes. The match would be very identical to the previous one, but with different scores as this time they would not make it past 0-0.
Portugal reached the last match of the group with everything to be played. He could go home in the first phase as he would in Brazil 2014 or he could be crowned when he first placed.
The match that would be played at Lyon's home would be more fast-paced than in the previous ones so both teams were played. The match would end 3-3, causing the Hungarian and Iceland national teames to pass first and second respectively.
Portugal would finish as third with a total of three points and fall to the repechage of the third in which it would move to the final stages of the championship.
Qualifiers from eighth to semi-final
Once in the eighth, without a brilliant tournament start and calling into question their continuity, they had to face Croatia in the eighth round. In the match he could have taken the victory either combined, but that finally a shot taken advantage of Quaresma after a shot by Cristiano Ronaldo, would give victory to the Portuguese national team in the 117th minute.
After the eighth to fourth pass, the time came for the clash against the Poles. A match that was difficult for them from the beginning with a lewandowski goal in the 2-minute match. It would be put back by Renato Sanches who would be one of the biggest revelations of the Portuguese team in the championship. This match would be even more agonizing than the previous one and would end up going to penalties where the Portuguese set would prevail 5-3.
Portugal would return to the semi-finals of the top European tournament for the second time in a row. On this occasion he would face one of the tournament's revelations, Wales. It was the only meeting of the entire championship in which the Portuguese national team would win in regular time. Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo scored the goals shortly before reaching match time.
A lost occasion
Portugal reached a European final 12 years after it will reach it in 2004. A dream generation in which were veterans Luís Figo, Deco or Rui Costa, along with a very young Cristiano Ronaldo.
The finals lost 0-1 to a Greece they failed to bend.
Euro 2016 final
This time and already in 2016 Portugal had a new opportunity. Now the finalist they had against was a France, which had won every match except a draw against Switzerland in the group stage. The gala team came as a favorite not only for the team they brought to the final, but also for playing at home specifically in Saint-Denis. Portugal played 4-1-3-2 with Rui Patricio in goal, Cedric, José Fonte, Pepe and Guerreiro on defense, as pivot william Carvalho would depart. Further ahead and creating game were Joao Mario, Adrien and Renato and as tips and trying to pierce the French networks Cristiano and Nani.
The match would be against them when in the 25th minute of the first half, Portuguese star Cristiano, would be injured in a play with Payet. I'd come in to replace Quaresma.
From here until the end of the regular time Portugal would suffer to be able to keep the result and running against to try to surprise. Neither the French nor the Portuguese would get a goal, the match would go to overtime where France continued to dominate. Finally an isolated move, who would enter before the extension, would drop a flat shoe which would be adjusted to the stick and impossible to tackle for Hugo Lloris. That 109-minute goal gave Portugal the win and that's how he would finish the game.
Portugal managed heroically, and without being favourites, the trophy that crowned him as European champion at the level of selections. Fernando Santos' team played the entire championship with a 4-1-3-2 or a 4-2-2-2 championship, making a reform from the last tournament at the selection level. It would not be the last title that this group of exceptional players would get as they won for the Portuguese nation soon after the UEFA Nations League.
UEFA Nations League
Portugal, as part of Group A, would struggle to claim the first edition of this title and not the possibility of promotion as was the case for other nations with the worst FIFA coefficient.
He would initially fall into a group alongside Italy and Poland in which he would pass as first as he was the only position he claimed to be in the knockout rounds. of this competition.
There he would be in the hype along with the other three of the rest of the groups that aspired by trophy and after the draw he would be paired with Switzerland who would endorse a 3-1.
Taking the final against a more than dangerous Netherlands, which came very strong and with the capabilities to be able to take the title from Portugal; however, this would not be the case as Portugal would beat the Dutch team with a solitary goal by Gonsalo Guedes shortly after the match time.
This entry allowed him to claim the trophy and claim to be UEFA Nations League champions. This was his second European trophy in just over two years, which the Portuguese combine had not achieved in its 104-year history.