Euro 2016 round up: Here are some of the talking points

The Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Mathew teaches us to do unto others as they do unto us Portugals footballers followed that to the letter on Sunday night to upset France in the final of Euro 2016 On home soil 12 years ago Portugals golden generation had been ambushed in the final by unfancied Greece The Greeks scored just seven goals in six games but beat France the Czech Republic ndash the best team in the competition ndash and Portugal twice to win the titlePortugal players celebrate their Euro 2016 triumph in an open bus on their arrival in the capital city of Lisbon yesterday PicAFPPortugal who triumphed in Paris despite Cristiano Ronaldo being on the pitch for just 25 minutes ndash he spent most of it hobbling after a robust challenge from Dimitri Payet ndash didnt win a single game in the group stage and won only one match in the regulation 90 minutes the semifinal against Wales But in Pepe who had recovered from a hamstring strain they had the finals outstanding performer William Carvalho was exceptional in the spoilers role in front of the back four and Joao Mario Ricardo Quaresma and Nani put in excellent shifts in forward positions despite France having the bulk of possessionHere we look back at some of the talking points from a monthlong tournamentDid the current format workIf you go by the fairytale stories scripted by Wales and Iceland the expansion to 24 teams from 16 was a success If the quality of the football played is the criteria though Euro 2016 left much to be desired Few of the major sides produced more than one convincing performance and the final tally of 108 goals in 51 matches was pitiful the worst goalspergame ratio since 27 goals were scored in 14 games during Euro 1980Best match and commentaryWhen Wayne Rooney scored early from the penalty spot it seemed as though England would progress to a quarterfinal against France without undue alarms But by the 18th minute Iceland with the population of a London suburb were in front and they played with enough composure for the rest of the match to earn a richly deserved victoryIt prompted another epic verbal volley from Gudmundur Benediktsson the Icelandic commentator who had become a global cult figure after his goal celebration against Austria Coming as it did mere days after the UK voted for Brexit Benediktssons words were a proper kick in the teeth You can go home You can go out of Europe You can go wherever the hell you want England 1 Iceland 2 is the closing score here in Nice And the fairy tale continuesHistory repeats itself in funny waysZinedine Zidane was a 12yearold ballboy at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille in June 1984 when Michel Platinis goal a minute before the end of extra time clinched Frances place in the final of Euro 1984 The assist had come from the Maliborn Jean Tigana and the beaten opponents were Portugal Two generations on it was the turn of Eder born in GuineaBissau to turn the tables and ensure that it was the French that suffered extratime heartache Spare a thought too for AndreacutePierre Gignac whose deft footwork and poise had set up a shooting chance late in normal time Agonisingly for him and France it came back off the post with the otherwise magnificent Rui Patricio well beaten There were echoes of Rob Rensenbrink the Dutch maestro in 1978 Through on goal with the World Cup final against Argentina tied at 11 his shot came back off the upright Mario Kempes would then score twice in extra time to give the hosts the glory If the trajectory of my shot had been five centimetres different we would have been world champions said Rensenbrink later On top of that I would have been crowned top scorer and perhaps chosen as the best player of the tournament mdash all in the same match Thats why I keep things in perspective It may take Gignac a while to accept his misfortune so philosophicallyGriezmann a clear Golden Boot winnerAntoine Griezmann was the clear winner of the Golden Boot proof again that skill will always trump size But despite the six goals it will be the miss that he remembers most ndash a glancing header from Kingsley Komans cross that flashed just over the bar It was that sort of night for the French who lacked a cutting edge when it mattered most Plenty of time now for Didier Deschamps to ponder the omission of Karim Benzema the most complete French centre forward of his generationDileep Premachandran is Wisden Indias editorinchief