“To make a substitution this late in the game just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. What can you achieve in five minutes?”
It's a brutal blow to pick out BBC co-commentator Danny Murphy's words about three minutes before Portugal's winner, when 90th-minute substitute Pedro Neto assisted 90th-minute substitute Francisco Conceição's goal in Leipzig against a resilient but ultimately self-destructive Czech Republic team.
But it was also a remarkable moment of virtuosity, as his fellow commentators' skills went from so bad they were good, to just awful, to ultimately verging on performance art.
His substitution was not his only impressive contribution to the winner. Seemingly completely unused to rhetorical questions, he narrowed his eyes and answered seriously “Yes” when Robin Cowen asked him perfectly timed question: “Can Portugal win?” just before Conceição scored.
This came just minutes after Diogo Jota looked to have sealed the win for Portugal only to be denied by Cristiano Ronaldo, who headed the ball against the post after being ruled out for offside.
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An entire paper could be written on that forbidden goal alone.
And how that succinctly and perfectly summed up Ronaldo's night, which he spent in typical international match style shaking his head and flapping his arms at the sheer misfortune of being born in the same country as these incompetents, largely denying himself their apparent victory.
After the match, Jota fought with the goalkeeper for the ball, even though Portugal did not need to restart the game, after it emerged he had promised his wife that he would celebrate the birth of their baby wearing a football shirt.
But most notably, yes, the star of the show, Danny Murphy himself, for his reaction to the news of the VAR check when he declared the goal to be clean, and then, when it was ruled offside two seconds later, how he, with maximum broadcasting accuracy, declared “the decision stands”.
At first there was some skepticism at how quickly the semi-automatic offside decision had been made, but then we remembered that this was exactly what we wanted and declared it a good thing.
But don't be mistaken into thinking Murphy was saving all his good plays for the final minutes.
Earlier, Rafael Leão had received a yellow card for a brazen dive, an incident about which our co-PR hero, without a moment's hesitation or reflection, asserted four mutually exclusive and contradictory positions in the space of 20 seconds.
The Czechs also looked tired towards the end of the game, playing non-stop, and Murphy totally ignored Cowen when asked about the oldest player at the Euros, replying absentmindedly with “yeah”, before realising too late what was actually happening – presumably after a gentle poke in the side – when he said “Excuse me, was there a question for you?” He may have been daydreaming, trying to solve a particularly tricky philosophical puzzle.
Don't worry, Danny. Answering questions from commentators is a job too mundane, too inconsequential, too mundane for a man who goes to courageous and inspiring new places as a co-commentator. There's the familiar Mark Lawrenson-esque grumpiness about being paid to watch a major football tournament in a great place, but that's not all. Murphy's disdain extends beyond the game at hand, and sport in general, to the people he works with and those actually broadcasting it.
It's not always entirely clear whether he realises he's not just shouting in a pub but broadcasting to a weary nation.
The match itself was peak Portugal: Ronaldo failed to score and the rest is history: Bruno Fernandes looked a bit angry at the referee at one point.
Meanwhile, the Czechs came very close to a perfect heist – Lukas Provod's lone goal added to an already-growing collection of ludicrous goodness – and then they conceded two of the sweetest, most ridiculous goals of the tournament so far, adding to a rapidly growing collection.
We're already all over the fact that every goal scored in this tournament is either a spectacular 25-yard strike or the most awful own goal we've ever seen, but Portugal's match-winning goal may have been the most ridiculous goal ever.
The slippery conditions may go some way to explaining why coach Jendrij Stanek was hesitant to pick up what seemed like a routine ball into the penalty area, but even if he had opted for parrying, the choice to kick the ball directly into the shins of the helpless and hapless Robin Franacz was a strange one.
The second goal, shortly afterwards from Jota's pass, was another defensive blunder and the only logical explanation was an overwhelming desire to prove Murphy wrong, but for that the Czech may deserve some respect and gratitude.
Even without that late winner, Portugal will be one of the most feared teams in Germany after barely managing to get a point in their opening match. Having barely managed to secure three points, Portugal are completely convinced they will win the game.
Especially if Murphy comes out and says he won't.
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