Cristiano Ronaldo and winning goal scorer Eder celebrate after beating France for the Euro 2016 title.
Cristiano Ronaldo gave the Portuguese squad what has been described
as an "unbelievable" half-time speech, telling his teammates he was
"sure" they would beat France in their 1-0 Euro 2016 final victory
despite having to go off injured after 25 minutes, Cedric Soares has
revealed.
The full-back also said that Portugal were "in shock"
when their star captain had to be substituted but that, far from being
dejected, a "fantastic" Ronaldo helped motivate the players.
"It was a very tough moment," Soares said. "I remember, for me and the team, everybody was a little bit in shock I think.
"In
half-time, Cristiano had fantastic words for us. He gave us a lot of
confidence and said 'listen people, I'm sure we will win, so stay
together and fight for it.'
"It was really unbelievable. I think
all the team had a fantastic attitude. And we showed tonight when you
fight as one you are much much stronger."
Asked whether Ronaldo was downbeat after having to go off, Soares
said: "No, he was fantastic. His attitude was unbelievable. Always he
helped a lot our teammates, he always had a lot of motivational words
and all the team of course reacted to them, so it was very good."
Ronaldo
spent much of the second half and extra-time acting as an effective
assistant manager, giving instructions from the bench, and Soares
praised this as beneficial to the players.
"Yes, he had fantastic
words for each player in each moment of the game ... I'm really really
happy to be part of this group and be champion."
Portugal won the
game thanks to Eder's 109th-minute long-range strike. After the game, as
Soares spoke to ESPN FC, Ronaldo led a conga line through the mixed
zone, although he interrupted his singing to hug any players who were
talking to the media.
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