Deschamps shows his French philosopher side before final

The Brazilian-born defender missed the semi-final win over Wales on Wednesday because of a thigh injury and had trained separately on Friday. Now Portugal is in a reversed role against a more flamboyant French side.

With the country still on terrorist alert after the November 13 attacks in which 130 people died, more than 3,400 police will be on the Champs Elysees in Paris alone when the match starts at the Stade de France at 1900 GMT.

He also ruled out using the Champs-Elysees as a venue for honoring the French team on Monday if it wins the tournament, saying that the wide, tree-lined street has to be prepared for an annual military parade to mark the French national holiday of Bastille Day on July 14.

Didier Deschamps’ men are looking to follow in the footsteps of the 1984 European Championship-winning side and 1998 World Cup squad by making home advantage count and lifting the trophy on Sunday.

“It’s an exceptional moment, a privilege, a unique chance because there is a title at the end”, Deschamps said of the final.

Deschamps said he wanted France’s rising star Antoine Griezmann to be on the world player of the year list but he would have to wait to get the honour. Football is not an exact science and it often comes down to the little things. But Pepe, 33, took a full part in Saturday’s exercises which were witnessed by reporters during the 15 minutes in which training was open to the media and he appeared to be ready to face hosts France in Sunday’s final. We’ve done a great deal of work to get into a final six years later. Portugal’s approach has been cautious rather than defensive, but even so, their performances have failed to endear them to the neutrals and they go into the final as outsiders. Ronaldo has been at the summit for seven or eight years.

If Mario needs advice on leaving Portugal for one of Europe’s bigger leagues, he only has to look across the dressing room at Ronaldo and Ricardo Carvalho. It is an enormous joy to reach the final and I feel a lot of pride and happiness, but the final will be tricky. Eighteen-year-old Renato Sanches has started the last two games while the gifted Joao Moutinho has fallen by the wayside.

“But they never give up and that’s something clearly I’m very fond of”.

“I’ve been at a very demanding club for 10 years and I’ve been playing for Portugal since 2008”, he said when asked about his own ambition to win at the age of 33.

“I have three European Championship and two World Cup campaigns to my name. It’s something that I am proud of and something I’ll always cherish, this time in Euro 2016”. “I’m fully fit and can be chosen to play”.

Pepe has seemed on his best behavior at Euro 2016, cutting out the hard fouls that helped make his reputation and the play-acting simulation that angered many watchers of the recent Champions League final.