Two minutes later, Coman passed the ball to Giroud in the Portugal box who struck it low but his shot was saved by Rui Patrício. From an initial list of 66 bases, the 24 participating teams had to confirm their selection with UEFA by 31 January 2016.

None of these properties would be achievable without chemistry providing the materials required, so here’s a breakdown of the different types of polymers used in each component part of the ball. The top two teams in each group, along with France, the host team, qualified for the finals, as did Turkey who had the best third-place record. Instead of an opened diamond-shaped dimple pattern across the panels of the Brazuca, adidas introduced a closed checkered board dimpled pattern across the new panels.Ronaldo had a mixed start to Euro 2016, drawing condemnation for criticising Iceland's attitude in their opening 1-1 draw after refusing to exchange shirts with captain Aron Gunnarsson at the final whistle. Le Parisien took solace from the fact that Griezmann ended the tournament as top scorer, with the highest total since Michel Platini in Euro 1984. Cristiano Ronaldo (pictured playing against Poland in the quarter-finals) became his country's most capped player during the tournament.

Simply meaning ‘Play beautiful’ in French, the Beau Jeu is a retelling of the beloved 2014 Brazuca World Cup match ball. The UEFA Champions League Star Ball appeared for the first time in 2001 – true to its name, it was adorned by eight stars, a design that has remained consistent through to 2020's unveiling of the Finale Istanbul.With a minute of the match remaining, Payet scored from 20 yards (18m) to give France a 2–1 victory. Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Notícias suggested the victory was "the greatest moment in the history of Portuguese football", [59] and A Bola announced every Portugal player to be a "hero". Midway through the half João Mário volleyed wide of the France goal before Ronaldo, taken off the pitch on a stretcher, was substituted for Quaresma, and Portugal changed to a 4–1–4–1 formation with Nani playing alone upfront.

The reason this occurred is because the workers at the stadium left the lights switched on the day before the match which attracted huge swaths of insects. After a few selfies and a lot of jumping around, Ronaldo lifts the trophy, screams with delight and starts kissing it. UEFA announced the tournament schedule on 25 April 2014, [53] [54] which was confirmed on 12 December 2015, after the final draw. Of course, these will be designed in a manner that provides the most favourable aerodynamic properties for the ball – however, that’s veering dangerously into physics territory. One moth was infamously captured flying on and around Cristiano Ronaldo's face when he was sitting on the pitch after being injured during the match.In their final group match, Portugal faced Hungary at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu on 22 June. Five minutes into the second half, Iceland equalised when Birkir Bjarnason scored from a Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson cross that had been missed by Portugal's Vieirinha. He is the player Portugal looks to and he has led from the front - even when he only watching from the sidelines in Paris.

France faced the third-placed team from Group E, the Republic of Ireland, at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on 26 June. Portugal then defeated Croatia in the last 16 before beating Poland in the quarter-final after a penalty shoot-out. Bjarnason scored a headed goal with six minutes of the match remaining, but that proved to be the final goal as the game ended 5–2.The majority of these materials are polymers; these are very long molecules built up from many smaller component molecules. The pitch at Lille received particular attention with players slipping continuously and with groundsmen forced at halftime to try to repair the cut up pitch. After two minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle was blown and Portugal won the match 1–0, to claim their first major tournament title. He has won the Champions League once with Manchester United and twice with Real Madrid and victory in Paris closes a big gap in his achievements and enables him to eclipse, in one context at least, his great rival in La Liga at Barcelona, Lionel Messi.