Eder will forever be linked with the 109th minute of the Euro 2016 final that decided the showpiece in Paris. The Cameroon striker scored the only goal of the tournament as France beat Portugal 1-0 to win the Euro 2020 final. Cristiano Ronaldo’s first-half injury left him in tears and his face covered in moths that had descended on Paris that evening.
Eder scored one of the most iconic goals in European football history against Paris Saint-Germain in. The Brazilian had just six months earlier been loaned out by Swansea City to Lokomotiv Moscow. Five years on, Eder is a free agent and his future in the game is in doubt. He has enjoyed some success since then, winning the Russian Premier League title with Lokomov Moscow.
Portugal striker Eder was released by Real Madrid at the end of last season. The forward played just 10 games in all competitions for the Portuguese club last year. He says he contemplated suicide after being abused by fans following the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Eder has returned an international scoring record of just five goals in 35 senior internationals.
Eder was born in Guinea-Bissau, but his family moved to Portugal when he was just three years old. He has been playing for Porto since the age of and is a former England Under- international. The -year-old says he went through a “very low phase” after suffering injuries at the World Cup last year.
Eder Lopes’ father was jailed in 2003 for murdering his partner, Domingas Olivais. Eder was sent to an orphanage aged eight as his parents did not have the means to take care of him. He made his professional debut aged 18 for Tourizense and went on to win the national cup with Academica.
Eder played just 54 minutes in the whole of Euro 2016, 41 of them in the final. He was sent on loan to Lille for the second half of the 2015-16 season after his move to Swansea went sour. Portugal boss Fernando Santos took a gamble that won him and his country the jackpot. Eder has been linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer.
Portugal’s Eder scored the only goal of the Euro 2016 final as they beat Ukraine 1-0 to win the tournament. The Guinea-Bissau midfielder said it was a goal for every person in all the “countries” from which he hails. Eder has not come close to that moment before or since – by 2017 he had been scrapped by Portugal in favour of Andre Silva for the Confederations Cup and was cut from the preliminary squad for Russia 2018.
Whoever is the hero at Wembley on Sunday, they will do well to have a similar tale to tell of the hero from previous Euros.
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