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It was a tough decision, but taking one of the best players of the tournament to put in a striker near the end of the 90 minutes, was one of Fernando Santos biggest gambles ever. Renato Sanches was one of the best players on the field that night at Stade de France, but Fernando Santos had the feeling that Eder would be a good choice for this particular situation. A potent striker with a magnificent fitness who needed a moment of glory to change the perception people had about him, Eder responded with a blasting moment of greatness.
But not all props go to the striker, Santos has his fair share of blame for this incredible feat. Because not having Ronaldo for the better part of the game, made the coach bring out his best strategy to the field and prove what he is made of. After the match, he praised the striker in front to reporters: "When I took Cristiano out I thought of putting Eder on immediately but at that moment I thought we should change the game, so I moved Nani to the middle for him to play his fast game," the victorious tactician explained.
"But we needed someone to play up front and to let the team come up. We needed someone to play up in the air to make it harder for the French later on. When he came on he said 'gaffer, I am going to score' and the ugly duckling scored - he is now a beautiful swan. It's hard to describe the players' emotions. It's an incredible emotion and we need to stress [the effort of] our skipper," he said.
"He had an immense effort. We had an amazing team spirit. He had an amazing spirit - twice he tried as much as he could to get back on the pitch but he couldn't. Him being there in the locker room and on the bench, it was very important for us the way he reached the lands and incentivised them. He believed, just like myself, that tonight was our night. On his behalf, I would like to thank all the players for believing because tonight was our night."
Photo credit: Portugal National Team
