It took 109 minutes and a striker who rarely scores to separate Portugal and France in the 2016 Euro finals on Sunday night. Éder, the 28-year-old who had scored just thrice in 28 appearances for Portugal, produced a moment of magic to break the deadlock that looked set to go all the way to penalties.

Éder produced a moment of super-sub magic, taking a ball received with his back to the goal on the left, holding off Laurent Koscielny and charging in field. From 25-yards out, Éder smashed the ball into the corner past a diving Hugo Lloris.

As finals go, it was textbook. There was not much to separate the two teams after 90 minutes. While France were the more dominant team – with 17 shots compared to Portugal’s six, seven on target compared to one, and 54% possession compared to 46% – Portugal had more than held their own as both teams adopted the overly cautious approach so often seen in finals. Portugal, though, perhaps had an unlikely advantage.

Their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo – who was floored by a tough Dimitri Payet tackle in the eight minute, and was carted off the pitch in the 24^th minute after desperately trying to carry on despite clearly being severely uncomfortable – was off the field. Ordinarily, Ronaldo’s absence would be seen as detrimental, but so much of Portugal’s game plan centres on him and the team is forced to do whatever they can to get the ball to him at all costs.

Without Ronaldo present, the Portuguese could adopt a more fluid approach, playing tantalisingly around the box and taking their time, relying on each other instead of on one man. Despite France’s persistence, the Portuguese defence never looked desperate and even when the French hit the post in the dying minutes of regulation time, they never looked rattled – and for that, they deserve credit.

The words “deserving champions” is thrown about far too willy-nilly and taking into account that Portugal had won just a single match in regulation time this whole tournament, those words will no doubt surface at some point during the debate, but tournament football isn’t always about teams who perform consistently. In a way, this tournament has been about exactly the opposite of that. It’s been a story of the underdog – and Portugal were very much the underdog.

Ronaldo’s side should not even have made it out of their group, but somehow, they achieved beyond expectations. Led by Pepe, returning from injury, Portugal looked resolute and the now infamous draw against Iceland looked a million years away. This was a story of resilience and team spirit and making the opposition pay for not taking their chances.

But this tournament was about much more than just what happened on the pitch. While that thread weaved through the dialogue with the “little guys” producing moments of magic, off it, a different narrative was untangling.

While France might not have got their fairy tale finish, this tournament has still offered the public a distraction from the tragedy suffered during last year’s terror attacks. A few days after those attacks, England and France played a friendly and Wembley’s iconic arch was lit up in the blue, white and red of the French flag, while the French motto “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite” was projected on the front of the national stadium.

France lost 2-0 that night, but that game was about much more than the result on the pitch.

“More than ever now, sport knows no colour, no religion,” coach Didier Deschamps said afterwards. “All are welcome in sport. It’s about diversity in every aspect. It’s a way of uniting people and it’s important it continues to do that.”

It was an important message, especially considering France’s history with identity.

Sport is by no means a cure-all of the ills of society and the strife that nations go through, but more often than not, in times of strife, sport becomes a proxy. That proxy can represent many things and it’s not always positive.

During the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa when France exited the tournament in shambolic fashion, sport was proxy for struggle. In the wake of that embarrassing defeat, documents emerged detailing how the number of black players should be limited to 30% even at age group level. Some argued that this was simply to protect French football’s interest as players who trained in academies, with dual nationality, often leave and go on to represent other countries. But the way in which this was expressed was clumsy at best. But in every way, it was a proxy for a struggle to understand identity and belonging in a country that, at least superficially, was a poster child for multiculturalism. Even the 1998 “rainbow” World Cup winning team was met with some antagonism and drew protests from the right wing Front National for “not really” being French.

That opinion became popular among more conservative French people, even when every single one of the black players was born in France, often to second generation immigrants. For years, the debate over identity and belonging in ever-evolving multicultural France has been alive with antagonism.

And so, sport has once again become a proxy for France, even if it’s not a positive one on the pitch; there is plenty to be taken away from this story, and how the French team emerges from this battle will define them, just like this tournament has, in the short term, defined the country. DM

Photo: Portugal’s Eder (rear red shirt) scores the 1-0 lead against French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris during the UEFA EURO 2016 Final match between Portugal and France at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, 10 July 2016.