Euro 2016: Antoine Griezmann is France’s catalyst, but Portugal can stop the maestro with some midfield pressing
Atletico Madrid ace has been the player of the tournament but French must watch out for dangerous Cristiano Ronaldo
I THOUGHT from the start that France were the favourites.
It was a home tournament and they won the last two times that happened.
The star of 1984 was Michel Platini and in 1998 it was Zinedine Zidane. Now they have a new star in Antoine Griezmann, the six-goal player of the finals.
In the semi-final against Germany there were five or six situations when he was able to run from deep.
Portugal have to stop those runs at the outset, in midfield. If you let him build up speed, you will be in trouble.
But while France played well against Germany, they still gave up too many chances.
They can’t afford to defend that poorly again because Ronaldo and Nani will be more clinical. But I expect the French will win, 2-1.
FRANCE must not to let Portugal’s wingers go one-on-one with their full-backs.
Matuidi and Sissoko will have to work hard to double up, and also be aware of Ronaldo, too.
PORTUGAL will be very aware of Griezmann and must press him in midfield.
If allowed to run with the ball, he is hard to stop and can pick a pass or score.
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BEATING Germany was a great achievement but in some ways this will be an even more difficult game for France.
Germany like to have the ball but Portugal are not bothered about possession. They will want to play the same way as France — closing the defence and counter-attacking, with the pace of Cristiano Ronaldo, Renato Sanches and Nani.
That strategy worked very well against Poland and Wales. They didn’t give up too many chances and defensively had two lines of four close to each other.
Portugal have come on a long way since the group stage. It was a good decision to bring in Jose Fonte for Ricardo Carvalho. He’s brought more stability to the defence.