Portugal conquers Europe, reports Mozambican press

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Portugal conquers Europe, reports Mozambican press

3:05 CAT | 12 Jul 2016

Portugal’s European Championship victory over France in Paris on Sunday was marked yesterday in the Mozambican press as an unprecedented and historic achievement against all comers.

“Portugal conquers Europe” was the headline of Noticias’s sports section, reporting that the Portuguese national team surprised their opponents in a packed Stade de France, readied as “a glorious stage for the descendants of Asterix and Obelix”.

According to Noticias, “what promised to be a Homeric night for France,” became an “Olympian” one for the Portuguese, who finally laid to rest the painful memory of their home defeat 12 years ago in the final against Greece, and several defeats against Sunday’s opponents.

The paper describes Eder, the sole goal-scorer, as the “black beast against the French” and recalls the Portuguese national team’s third place in 1966, when it fielded Mozambican players Eusebio, Coluna, Hilário and Vicente Lucas.

O País, Mozambique’s leading private daily, headlines the Portuguese triumph and devotes two pages to the achievement under the banner: “Portugal beats Europe and makes history in the 60 years of the championship”.

The newspaper points out that Portugal played “without the star of the team, Cristiano Ronaldo,” but was unintimidated by their opponents being favourites.

Radio Moçambique remarked wryly on the party that gripped the Mozambican capital late into the night with the headline: “Maputo woke up today with a hangover from Portugal’s title” and goes on to highlight the role of Eder. “The most criticized of Fernando Santos’s players, he was the hero of the hour, scoring the victorious goal in extra time,” it said.

“This was Portugal’s night. They clung to the advantage and took the cup home,” Televisão de Moçambique said, reporting that “the Portuguese support from the stands was tremendous” for a Portuguese team “scaled back and without its greatest star, Cristiano Ronaldo, for most of the game”.

Source: Lusa