It could have been Gareth Bale playing at the Stade de France, this evening, against the likes of Antoine Griezmann and company. However, his country's fairy tale adventure at the European Championship had to end as Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal emerged as the better side, a few days ago, in the Last 4.
Ruled out through injury, Bale's Real Madrid colleague Pepe watched the match from the stands as new Valencia CF signing Luis Nani secured the Portuguese team's triumph. Three minutes before that, UEFA Champions League topscorer Ronaldo had broken the deadlock with a trademark jump and solid header.
Pepe is finally fit and is expected to return to action. Along with CR7, he represents Real Madrid's only players left at UEFA Euro 2016 as Germany's Toni Kroos was kicked out by finalists France in the other sem-final fixture. For club team mate Gareth Bale, the choice is made: he is looking forward to victory for Portugal.
The Welshman took to Facebook and posted the image below with the following message:
"Wish my team mates Cristiano Ronaldo & Pepe good luck tonight!"
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