NUNO GOMES never quite got his hands on the Henri Delaunay trophy. There were a couple of near misses, none more so than in 2004 on home soil, when Portugal went all the way to the final only to suffer a shock defeat at the hands of relative minnows Greece.
Indeed, in three successive championships from 2000 to 2008, Gomes did not fail to reach at least the quarter-finals with Portugal, scoring six goals along the way.
It is his first finals that he remembers fondest, in particular the group game against England in Eindhoven, when Portugal overturned a 2-0 deficit thanks to goals from Rui Costa and Luis Figo before Gomes scored a 59th minute winner; his first international goal.
“It was a great moment. I think all of Portugal still remembers that match and that fantastic comeback,” he says. “Then managing to turn the game around in the way we did, with an amazing atmosphere and three goals. For me, personally, being able to score the winner, which was my first goal for the full national team, is a moment I’ll remember forever.”
The former Benfica and Fiorentina striker is one of only a handful of players to score in three successive finals notching six goals over the piece. Four of those came in that debut tournament, a finals that Gomes still holds dear not least given what happened four years later. Asked today for his clearest recollections of the finals, it comes as no surprise to hear that the defeat to Otto Rehhagel's side remains fresh, however he refuses to let it cloud his memories.
“Even though our experience at EURO 2004 perhaps didn’t finish in the best way, I’ll always remember reaching a EURO final hosted in Portugal with an amazing atmosphere. So, EURO 2004 always comes to mind. However, I was also involved at the EURO in 2000 and 2008. It’s mainly EURO 2000, which was my first one, I have fantastic memories of the goals I scored and also the amazing run we had with Portugal.
“However, to have been one of the players who scored at three consecutive EUROs… I think that anyone should feel proud of that achievement and I’m no exception. And it’s important for a striker to score goals, so for my name to go down in history with that record or feat is one of the most special moments in my career.
“I think… I speak for myself, and this is my opinion, when I say that playing at a EURO as a footballer, representing your national team, is the highlight of a player’s career.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article