Portugal prove they can flourish without Ronaldo on the pitch (Reuters)

By Brian Homewood PARIS (Reuters) - Portugal proved they can flourish without their talismanic forward Cristiano Ronaldo, at least on the pitch, in beating France to win Euro 2016. Coach Fernando Santos has been trying to reduce their dependency on Ronaldo and his team's ability to live without their alltime leading scorer and captain faced its ultimate test when he was went off injured after 25 minutes of Sunday's final. Relieved of any obligation to pass to Ronaldo every time he was free or allow him to take free kicks, Portugal's players appeared less inhibited without him on the pitch.