A passionate defence of Portugal’s Euro 2016 campaign.

“I want the media to keep saying the same thing. That we’re this and we’re that, that we won undeservedly,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said on the eve of the Euro 2016 final.

“That’s what I would like them to say that we won and we didn’t deserve it. That would be amazing. I’d be going home very happy if they said that. And I will be going home very happy.”

How right he was.

A lot has been said about Portugal’s defensive style of football and not a lot of it positive.

“They haven’t even won a game!” soon became “They haven’t even won a game in normal time!” before giving way to “They’ve only won one game in normal time!” among critics.

Listening to this I just wondered when the rules of football ever dictated how and when a game should be won.

In any case, Portugal triumphed without penalties in 3 out of 4 knockout games and their second half display against Wales was one of the most dominant in the tournament.

How Belgium’s squad of pampered Premier League stars could have used the Portuguese team ethic and tactical discipline during their quarter-final loss to the Welsh.

If Portugal won by playing negative football, it is less to do with UEFA’s 24-team revamp of the European Championships and more to do with the fact it has never been easier to defend your way to a good result against a technically superior team.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, the main reason for this is Spain’s success between 2008 and 2012 and the misinterpretation among experts as to what this should mean for the wider game.

No team in history has exercised such complete control of a football match as that Spain team. From the outside, they ticked every box. They were exciting because the goals scored were of such a high technical quality and they were, by default, the best defensive team because the opposition never saw any of the ball.

What most failed to understand however, is that tiki-taka is football that only the best can play. As soon as the quality of the Spanish team dropped the slightest bit, with the retirement of Carles Puyol, Xavi and David Villa, the whole system fell apart.

The reality is that unless you have a team of generation-defining players like Spain then tournaments are not won by playing beautiful passing football and retaining possession. They are won by playing like the Greece of 2004, the Chelsea of 2012 and the Portugal of last night.

England have been particularly culpable in this lack of understanding, with the FA introducing their pathetic England DNA vision for the national team’s style of play.

“England teams aim to dominate possession intelligently, selecting the right moments to progress the play and penetrate the opposition,” it says on the FA website.

Do this with the quality of players and coaching Spain have, it’s fantastic. But try it with technically inferior English players who are used to the high tempo of the Premier League and you end up seeing games like the ones against Iceland and Slovakia where the players simply have no idea what they are supposed to be doing.

Too many teams in football today treat possession as an end in itself rather than a means to an end. Keeping possession is, of course, completely desirable when you are defending a lead, but try to use possession as a means of building up an attack and all you are doing is giving the opposition more time to organise their defensive shape, and nobody did that better than Portugal during Euro 2016.

While England were faffing about with tactics that reflected the sanctimonious way in which the FA have run our game for years now, Portugal were realistic, got down to business and played the game in a way that suited the players available to them. If the media and neutrals didn’t approve then all the better.

Jose Mourinho, who always prioritises defensive stability and creates a mood among all his teams that the world is against them, must have been delighted to see his homeland win the European Championships with a coach who followed his philosophy pretty much to the letter.

Nobody can deny that Portugal had a hugely lucky draw, but they still had to get past the obstacles in front of them. That included a hugely exciting Croatia team who pipped Spain to win their group, and hosts France who should have been on the crest of a wave after beating a Germany side that is probably the best in the world.

There are plenty of negatives to take from an underwhelming Euro 2016, but a Portugal side guilty of nothing more than managing their resources effectively is not one of them.