Didier Deschamps said his team had thrown away a great chance to be European Champions after France lost 1-0 to Portugal in extra time on Sunday night in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
Deschamps, 47, refused to blame the loss on fatigue, after having just two days rest following their semifinal win against Germany.
France could not find a goal in 90 minutes of regulation time, despite Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo being substituted due to a knee injury in the first half, and the game went to extra time.
In the second half of extra time, Eder found a window and blazed a shot from distance past Hugo Lloris to give Portugal the goal they needed to secure the country’s first-ever major tournament trophy.
“Even if we were a little bit tired as well, that’s not an excuse,” Deschamps said after the match. “We had chances to score, and the last one fell to [Andre-Pierre] Gignac. It came down to tiny details, it was a close match. We had chances, as did the Portuguese, but unfortunately they scored.
“It’s a great disappointment for it to end now, with this final. We must not throw everything that we’ve done away, but we threw away a great chance to be European Champions, not the only one, but a great one.”
The France manager said that his squad had played like a true team throughout the competition, and said that is also how they will deal with the disappointment they feel in not reaching their ultimate goal.
“There are no words after that,” Deschamps said. “The disappointment is huge, and we will need time to digest it. We won together, we suffered together, and today, unfortunately, we lost together.
“It would have been wonderful to offer them [the French people] the trophy at home, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
Despite the disappointment, Deschamps tipped his cap to the Portuguese, who only won three of their seven matches in France en route to the title.
“Of course the overriding emotion is of huge disappointment,” he said. “It’s cruel to lose the final like that. I have to congratulate Portugal. Clearly we had our opportunities and we weren’t clinical enough.
“We weren’t cool-headed enough, but I can’t hold anything against my players. They gave everything tonight.”
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