It has been a Euro 2016 tournament in which the underdog stories have been the ones to savour, and Portugal were able to tap into one of their own during the long old slog that it took to beat Croatia in Lens on Saturday night.
With the ageing Ricardo Carvalho having been dropped from the side following his cat on a hot tin roof of a performance in the 3-3 draw with Hungary, coach Fernando Santos opted to turn to a player only six years Carvalho’s junior, albeit one who has had quite the different career.