Euro 2016 Final: Cristiano Ronaldo forced OUT of the match in tears as injury wrecks his dreams of glory
Real Madrid ace limps out of final after tackle from West Ham star Dimitri Payet
CRISTIANO RONALDO limped out of the Euro 2016 final in tears after suffering an early injury against France.
Ronaldo hurt his knee in a tackle with West Ham star Dimitri Payet on eight minutes but tried to run the problem off.
Yet he collapsed to the ground in a flood of tears on 16 minutes and left the field for urgent repairs, leaving Portugal down to ten men for a while.
Ronaldo, 31, made one final attempt at trying to recover from the injury, but after attempting to make a quick run forward he pulled up in clear pain and signalled to the bench his match was over.
The Real Madrid star tried to put on a brave face as he gave the captain’s armband to teammate Nani, but as the disappointment set in so emotion began to take over.
Ronaldo collapsed in a flood of tears and was consoled by teammates as he knew his hopes of finally leading his country to an international success were over.
He was carried off on a stretcher to a standing ovation from the whole of Stade de France, to be replaced by Ricardo Quaresma on 25 minutes.
It was a major blow to the final with supporters, who had earlier seen a plague of moths infest the ground, hoping to see a clash between Ronaldo and Antione Griezmann – two of the tournament’s star players.
Payet had made contact with the ball but the two players clashed in the follow through, although referee Marc Clattenburg decided there was no foul.