On Sunday, Cristiano Ronaldo was mesmerizing with the tear of joy when Portugal beat France 1-0 to win the European Championship. Ronaldo has three world player of the year award and won all club level yet he celebrated as never before on Sunday.

Two hours earlier, there had been very different tears after he had been taken out of the game on a stretcher, just 25 minutes into the final at the Stade de France, his night over and his team left to fight on without their talisman. Portugal's triumph, thanks to a long-range goal in the second period of extra time by substitute striker Eder, was their first major trophy and will ease the memory of their painful loss to Greece in the Euro 2004 final  on home turf in Lisbon.

The Real Madrid forward added “A 19-year-old Ronaldo had played on the wing in that defeat and he must have wondered if he would ever get a chance to make amends. "I am very happy. I have been looking for this for a long time, since 2004. I asked God for another chance at this because we deserved it," he told reporters. "Today I was unfortunate, I was injured but I always believed that these players, together with the strategy, would be strong enough to beat France.”