Portugal won the European Championship in France after finishing third in the group stage, beating only Wales in a 90-minute game, and Eder, an unemployed footballer, scoring the title goal. That was amazing. And it will not happen again. Belgium, which does not care about being an aesthetic team and has no qualms about defending itself as much as necessary, left the impetuous Portuguese in the gutter thanks to a goal from Thorgan Hazard in a match that was about to end with cakes. Pepe and Lukaku would have gone to hell together. Thus ends Cristiano's journey. In the 2016 final, he cried after injuring himself, but lifted the title. This time there were no tears, but a lot of frustration.

Few things as difficult as the inevitable comparison, no longer with a father, but with a brother. Thorgan Hazard always had to collect the confetti that fell around his brother Eden, with whom he learned to play soccer in their family home in Braine-le-Comte. When they began to stand out, their parents prevented them from coinciding in their progression. So that no one would be tempted to put them in front of the mirror. That's why they sent Eden to Lille and Thorgan to Lens. That is, less than 30 kilometers away. They did go hand in hand with Chelsea, but at Stamford Bridge football has already made the natural selection. Eden was to be a planetary star and captain of Belgium. Thorgan, a supporting actor who would have to continue fighting so that the spotlight, one day, would rest on his figure.What difference does it make that his performance was remarkable at both Mönchengladbach and Dortmund.

And that finally happened in La Cartuja. Thorgan, to whom Roberto Martínez has given the entire left-handed lane to express himself with the right, earned a place at the top of the area. Pepe and Rúben Dias were more aware of the pieces that Lukaku could eliminate, so Thorgan had enough time to plot his shot. He gave the ball such a hammer blow that it, who knows if due to some mischief on the instep, took a strange effect just before reaching the goal. Rui Patrício no longer knew how to react to that. His mitt, which seemed ready to stop the ball, was several inches from the leather.

Belgium, when the first act fainted, progressed like this in a match that until then had taken place in slow motion. Nobody seemed to want the ball. Vermaelen (35 years old) and Pepe (38) ruled their defenses. And Palhinha, a footballer to whom Fernando Santos had entrusted the undercover work, even went beyond his main task: to annul De Bruyne. Palhinha not only did that, but took the playmaker out of the game after hunting him from behind. De Bruyne came out to test himself after the break, but did not hold on the field for three minutes.

The ball, medicinal, only picked up speed when it was picked up by Renato Sanches, converted in the first half into that scintillating midfielder who astonished in the European Championship in France and for which Bayern lost their minds.

A transition from Renato, precisely, allowed Diogo Jota the first occasion of the night.

He shot fatally from Liverpool.

But it gave the impression that Fernando Santos, no matter how much he forgot that double pivot with which the tournament began (Danilo-William Carvalho), was reluctant to let the talent of his footballers fly.

Bruno Fernandes, one of the best players of the season in Europe, was chained to the bench.

A problem when there was no other plan than to transfer the ball to Cristiano.

Yéste did what he could.

His despair grew.

The top scorer in the history of the European Championship (14) tried Courtois' gloves on a direct free kick.

Yya in the second act, when Portugal had no choice but to go for a draw, he managed to leave Diogo Jota alone.

And this one again erred.

By then, the Portuguese coach had already paid attention to the people.

And Portugal went for it all.

He took out Bruno Fernandes and Joao Felix with 35 minutes left.

And Roberto Martínez, who over the years has managed to make Belgium a granite selection in the retreat, had no qualms about protecting himself with his defensive line of five.

The time would come for Lukaku, who pulled a shot from his hat that caused panic.

Portugal ended the night stalking.

Courtois denied Rúben Dias.

Guerreiro finished off the post with seven minutes remaining.

And Belgium, relieved, will be the one to face Italy in the quarterfinals.

Paying a high toll.

Because Eden Hazard, like De Bruyne, ended up injured.

It was Thorgan's day.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • Belgium National Soccer Team

  • Portugal National Soccer Team

  • Cristiano Ronaldo

  • Thibaut Courtois

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