Cristiano Ronaldo suffers heartbreaking injury in Euro 2016 final

Portugal suffered a major blow just 25 minutes into its European Championships final against France on Sunday.

The Portuguese had to replace superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo after the Real Madrid man could not continue due to a knee injury stemming from an eight-minute tackle by France midfielder Dimitri Payet.

	The Cauldron (ICYMI) @CauldronICYMI
The challenge that caught Ronaldo's knee pic.twitter.com/TLxTZw9pyd 12:27 PM - 10 Jul 2016 Twitter

Ronaldo tried to stay in the game, attempting to walk off the knock two times, but the visible frustration on the 31-year-old’s face told the truth about his health. Tears welled up in his eyes the first time he went down to show that something was really wrong with his left knee.

	Footy Vines @ItsFootyVines
Retweet if you feel sorry for @Cristiano Ronaldo. pic.twitter.com/vKwY7rH1ke 12:50 PM - 10 Jul 2016

Ronaldo relished the opportunity to finally win a major tournament trophy for Portugal. The accomplishment would have been the crowning achievement to a career that’s seen him win three World Player of the Year awards and three UEFA Champions League titles (one with Manchester United in 2008, two with Real Madrid in 2014 and 2016).

Ricardo Quaresma came on for Ronaldo, as Portugal changed things up by going with Nani as the lone striker up top.