Greek cloud hangs over final

PORTUGAL are already winners, regardless of the result of tomorrow's European Championship final in the Estadio da Luz. They are winners in a football sense, in an economic sense and in an emotional sense.

The European Championship quelled racial tensions in Portugal, united the nation, galvanised the economy and fired enthusiasm for football to unprecedented heights.

The Championship opened with Luis Figo publicly voicing Portuguese ambivalence towards the Brazilian race by suggesting the case for including Deco in the national squad was a trifle tenuous. It was an attitude that had even deeper significance because Portugal's manager was also Brazilian, Luiz Felipe Scolari.