Pepe should’ve won Euro 2016 Player of the Tournament award over Antoine Griezmann, says Frank Leboeuf
The World Cup winner thought the Portugal centre-back or Wales star Gareth Bale were more deserving of the top prize
FRANK LEBOEUF has hit out at UEFA for awarding his compatriot Antoine Griezmann the Euro 2016 Player of the Tournament award.
The former France defender insists Portugal centre-back Pepe should have been handed the accolade following his strong performances for the champions throughout the tournament.
Pepe was immense in Sunday's final, which Portugal won 1-0 thanks to an extra-time winner from Eder, and stopped the Les Bleus striker from getting on the scoresheet.
Leboeuf, who won the World Cup with France in 1998, told RMC: "I like Griezmann a lot, but he was not the player of the tournament. I do not agree with this choice.
"We have to be critical. We only saw him from the quarter-finals on. He got two chances in the final, but he did not take them. We did not see too much of him otherwise.
";But UEFA has always worked like this. They always give man of the match to the player who scored, too."
Leboeuf also insisted Wales star Gareth Bale was more deserving of the award than Griezmann, despite the French striker winning the tournament's Golden Boot after hitting six goals.
He added: "For me, there was someone like Pepe, you had Gareth Bale who led Wales the way. There were a number of players who showed a lot of quality.
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"Pepe was in great form right from the start until the very end. Griezmann on the other hand was dropped for the second game..."
While Griezmann was dropped for France's second game of the tournament against Albania, he came off the bench to score in a 2-0 win.
He later hit a brace against Ireland and also scored a double against Germany in the semi-final to put France into the final with a 2-0 win.
However, the Atletico Madrid star was no match for the Real Madrid defender in the final and couldn't inspire France to victory on their own turf.