Match Analyses: Stade de France, Saint-Denis, 10.07.2016. 20:45

Referee: Mark Clattenburg

Attendance: 75868

PORTUGAL

Coach: Fernando Santos

Playing System: 4-1-3-2 

FRANCE

Coach: Didier Deschamps

Playing System: 4-2-3-1

Home Team Defence 

Portugal tried to close down every space in their own half. Their main concept was not to concede a goal in the first minutes to break France's tempo. This required concentration and discipline but Portugal didn't lack of these. Pepe was the man in defence, he ordered his teammates and was their leader.
We can see Portugal's idea of defending as there are 8 players in two lines of four applying the Sacchi-method in defence. This was early in the game so it happened sometime that Adrien Silva couldn't get back as soon as it would have been needed. France could find some spaces between lines but Pepe instantly put pressure on the man with the ball if needed. Portugal counted on these spaces so Adrien Silva knew his job: he had to cover Pepe if the Real Madrid player left his original position. This is organisation coached by Fernando Santos. France didn't have the players to break through these lines with such pressure on their shoulders.
We can also see that only Nani and Ronaldo stayed forward, ready for counter-attacks. As this happened, France knew that they could be in danger after losing the ball so France had to pay attention to not losing the ball and let Portugal start fast-breaking attacks with such space behind the France defence.

Away Team Defence 

France didn't put that much pressure on the opponent as it was expected. They played with a high defensive line but they didn't have the players to press the opponent in their half. France realized that there are no spaces left in the Portugal's half so France needed to start quick attacks against an unorganised opposition.
France didn't risk too much during the game. We can see that their concept was to stop Portugal build-up their attacks with short passing. If Portugal had built their attack with short passes, they could easily get to flank areas where crosses are made towards the box. This France tactics led to a slower Portuguese build-up play and this is how France got the ball and led counter-attacks against an unorganized opposition.

Home Team Attack

Things have changed after Ronaldo had to be substituted due to an injury. Ronaldo went into this game with so much passion and made a silly decision when he started dribbling and shielding the ball in an area where France's players could foul him without any risk.
Portugal was more dangerous when Ronaldo was on the pitch. This situation is typical for Portugal's tournament attacking tactics. Ronaldo often stepped back for the ball into space and as soon as the ball is played towards a flank, Ronaldo went into the box for the header. We can also see that during this game, Adrien Silva had a huge role in attacks so this led some errors in defence for Portugal. Fernando Santos often let their players change positions to confuse the opposition.
After Ronaldo came off, Portugal didn't show the quality in counter-attacks. They had chances after spot kicks but nothing more. The main idea was not to concede a goal. They only had a shot on target after 80 minutes in an open-play.
 

Away Team Attack

Defending is strongly connected with the attacking plan so there were two options:

1. If the opponent is unorganised, start fast-breaking attacks and exploit empty spaces instantly
2. If the opponent is organised, be patient and try to create overloaded situations and find spaces between lines.

We could see that France didn't have the quality to play so fast that Portuguese players can't follow the ball's movement. This is why the game became a little bit boring but tactical when Portugal stepped back and re-organised. The only way was to break through the lines individually by taking advantage of their speed on and off the ball. This could mostly happen in the first quarter of the game as Portugal tried to play higher in these minutes to slow down the opposition. Adrien Silva often made defensive mistakes but these were mostly tactical mistakes that were corrected later by Fernando Santos. Adrien Silva stepped back later on, but he had a huge space to play in. This was tiring for him and this is why he was subbed off in the second half.

Home Team Analysis 

Ronaldo could make a huge impact on the game even when he was on the bench. He encouraged his teammates and became a real leader of his team. He was the one that showed an example for the Portuguese players.
As the two teams became tired and more tired, technical difference could be shown more easily. Portuguese players were shorter in midfield and most of these players played in a free role. Éder was fresh and made a good, immediate impact. Portuguese players were better technically while the bigger, stronger French players couldn't remain as fast as they were in the opening minutes.
 

Summary

Portugal deserved the title after this game but there can be interesting debates about who deserved it more. France played one of their worst games during the tournament but the young team had a huge pressure on their shoulders. This is a great achievement from them but an even bigger from the smaller country, Portugal. Some Portugal players won't play the next tournament but we could highlight young talents, just like Renato Sanches, who has a bright future in football.

The main objective during this Euro 2016 tournament was not to concede a goal and try to stop the opponent from scoring in an open-play. Crosses are the most dangerous elements for big teams in the future as there aren't many players right now that have such great technique to break through with combination plays in the middle of the field.