True to form, Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo is being credited with being the difference maker in his team's 1-0 Euro upset win over France.

Sidelined for much of the action by injury, Ronaldo is credited with giving his teammates a halftime speech so emotionally charged it made all the difference in leading them to victory.

"In half-time, Cristiano had fantastic words for us," Cedric Soares said of his star teammate. "He gave us a lot of confidence and said 'listen people, I'm sure we will win, so stay together and fight for it.'"

Ronaldo's Made all the Difference

In Soares' mind, that changed the whole vibe for him and his teammates.

"He was fantastic," Soares added. "His attitude was unbelievable. Always he helped a lot our teammates, he always had a lot of motivational words and all the team of course reacted to them, so it was very good."

Eder's109th-minute long-range strike made the difference on the scoreboard, but it was Ronaldo who made all the difference, with the leadership he showed throughout the summer tournament season going a long way to change the perception some had of him as a star out for his own shine.

Word is he told Eder he would net the game-winner, then provided the locker room words that made all his teammates believe it.

Messi Comes up Short

But comparison, Argentina star Lionel Messi had a far more talented group that came up short in Euro play in a 4-2 penalty shootout setback to Chile that was so gut-wrenching for him it left the star vowing that he was done with national team competition.

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