All hail Portugal

As EURO 2016 comes to an end, the soccer fans will go into hibernation mode until the season reopens in about a month's time.

Before that, let us take a look back at EURO 2016.

Due to the expanded format, we got smaller nations like Northern Ireland, Wales and Iceland taking part in a major tournament.

Credits to them, they performed admirably, especially Wales which went all the way to the semi-finals.

For the traditional powerhouses, they faced-off each other during the knock out stage.

Spain vs Italy, Italy vs Germany, Germany vs France, all "final worthy" match.

European champions had a few surprise winners in the past, most notably Denmark in 1992 and Greece in 2004. We can now add Portugal into the list.

After drawing all their group stage games, no one actually fancy the Portuguese. In fact, they have only won once, against Wales, over the course of 90mins.

But their defensive work put in an excellent shift which resulted in their first major senior silverware.

Therefore it is not surprising to see their best performing players being Raphael Guerreiro (7.45*), Pepe (7.38*) and Cedric Soares (7.34*).

Some might argue that this is anti-soccer, but defense is just as important as attack.

There are also some who said, Portugal is lucky to have gotten "weaker" opponents like Croatia, Poland and Wales enrouted to the final. But hey, you have to make your own luck.

They can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, Portugal is the King of Europe.

* All statistics from WhoScored.com

The country vs club enigmas

When it comes to selection for the national teams in a major tournament, there are usually two criteria. One, the form of the players in the season before the tournament and the other the big name players.

However, there are times whereby the club form cannot be translated into country form and vice-versa.

Let us take a look at 5 players who club form differs vastly when donning the national colours.

* All ratings provided by WhoScored.com

Aaron Ramsey

It will not be far-fetched if we are to say that Ramsey was Wales' most influential player in their march to the semi-finals. With four assists, one goal and a rating of 7.7, the midfielder is in WhoScored.com team of the tournament. In contrast, Ramsey managed only a rating of 7.21 for his club.

Olivier Giroud

Like his Arsenal team-mate, Giroud is one player the Gunners' fans will not be too upset to see leaving the club. The striker's form coincide with Arsenal mid-season slump and not many would have predicted his impact for France. With a club rating of 7.07 versus 7.60 for his country, he certainly made his selection justifiable.

Eden Hazard

Hazard and his Chelsea team had a torrid season which resulted a personal rating of 7.11 for the recently concluded season. But his rating of 7.92 shows that his form picked up during the course of Euro 2016.

Thibaut Courtois

Like team and country mate Hazard, Courtois had a poor season with a rating of 6.66. His improved performance for Belgium culminated in him being named in WhoScored.com team. His rating of 7.1 ranked him as the best performing goalkeeper.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The biggest name in Euro 2016, the Portuguese was expected to take the tournament by storm. After a quiet start, Ronaldo started to chip in some goals. But his tournament rating of 7.37 paled to his club form of 7.99.

Do you think of any players who should be in the list? Let us know by leaving your comments below.