From a sporting point of view, the 2016 European Football Championship was a disaster for a long time. The final between Portugal and France was no exception – until Ronaldo started crying. Fortunately, a lot of beautiful things happened off the green lawn!
English coach Paul Jewell once said of Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo: “He is 1.87 meters tall, brave as a lion, strong as an ox and fast as lightning. If he looked good too, you could say , he has everything.” And then Jewell laughed heartily.
The Euro 2016 would simply have been inconceivable without the athletic class and the emotions of Cristiano Ronaldo. The games at this European Championship were too average and often boring. And that was the problem even in the final between Portugal and France for long stretches of the game. But then Ronaldo was injured – and the final took a dramatic turn, as the Daily Mirror wrote: “The tears of despair turned into tears of joy. Portugal shocked France.”
Because when the Portuguese superstar had to leave the field crying, something happened that few would have expected, as the Swedish newspaper “Expressen” noted the next day: “Cristiano had played the whole tournament for everyone else, and now everyone else was playing for him . ” Eder scored the decisive goal for Portugal and Ronaldo cried for the second time that day. The “Correio de Manha” wrote: “After Eder’s goal he couldn’t hold back his feelings. The end of the European Football Championship had a bittersweet taste for Cristiano Ronaldo.”
“A game without a drop of football”
But all these tears cannot hide the sporty farce that both teams offered over long stretches of the 120 minutes (“A game without a drop of football”, “ABC”). And if at a final a moth settles on the forehead of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo – you will certainly remember! – not only has your own Twitter account within a few seconds, but has already gathered over 6000 followers after three minutes, you know about the sporting appeal and value of a tournament.
So it’s no wonder that the conclusion of the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo Deportivo” turned out to be tough: “A final without footballing glamor like the whole tournament, it lived from the emotions.” And of the many wonderful stories away from the green lawn.
The secret star of the EM actually didn’t play a single second. And yet the Northern Irishman Will Grigg will stay in our memories forever. The vocals dedicated to the Wigan Athletic professional ring in the ears. “Will Grigg’s on fire, your defense is terrified” brought an atmospherically undercooled football event at least here and there in waves. Anyway: What would these four weeks in France have been without these great fans from (Northern) Ireland, Wales, Sweden or Iceland? What the Irish alone have achieved in the two weeks of their presence for football and far beyond cannot be outweighed in gold.
Fans were significantly more creative than the players
It was just amazing how the boys in Green helped a French pensioner change a tire. Or how they sang a baby to sleep on the metro. A dream scene took place in this situation, when one fan yelled at the other and loudly asked for silence (“Shut up. Here’s a baby on board!”), Whereupon the entire car put a finger to its mouth and quietly replied: “Psssssst ! “. Then everyone voted again “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are?” at.
Ben Redelings is a passionate “chronicler of football madness” and a supporter of the glorious VfL Bochum. The bestselling author and comedian lives in the Ruhr area and maintains his legendary treasure trove of anecdotes. For ntv.de he writes down the most exciting and funniest stories on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Further information on Ben Redelings, his current dates and his book with the best columns (“Between Puff and Barcelona”) can be found on his website www.scudetto.de.
Another highlight was the meeting of Irish and Swedish supporters. The Irish smacked the Swedes with a grin: “Go home to your sexy wives”. They did that too. Quite quickly, after three preliminary rounds.
In the stadium, too, the fans in the stands were often more imaginative than the players on the pitch. During a game, five pithy boys with red-burned faces and a certain heavy beer in their eyes caught the eye. There was no doubt that they were island men. They proudly held up a banner: “Please don’t film us. Our women think we are fishing in West Wales”.
The secret European champions of hearts
And then of course there were these spectacular Icelanders. A country with just over 300,000 inhabitants not only sent 10,000 compatriots to France, but also managed to provide a team of 23 players. And this despite the fact that 708 men were indispensable in whaling and 780 permanent volcano observers were not available. They saved the tournament with their refreshing manner and thus became the secret European champion of hearts.
And as much humor as Paul Jewell demonstrated in his description of the Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, the Icelanders also brought with them to France. Heimir Hallgrimsson, assistant coach of the Icelandic national team, said with a sympathetic grin after a game: “If a player receives a yellow card, he simply swaps the jersey for another. Nobody knows us anyway.” But that changed suddenly with the tournament in France. And now Icelandic ex-footballers are even said to win German dance competitions. But that’s another topic! For now, have a lot of fun at the European Championship and a warm luck!
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