Cristiano Ronaldo (Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images)

GROUP F rounds off the opening matches at Euro 2016 this evening. On paper, it is the quietest of the six groups, but it still contains Europe’s best player, a true underdog story and an unlikely history maker.

Can Portugal’s supporting cast give Ronaldo the platform to shine?

PORTUGAL kick-off tonight in St Etienne against Iceland, so inevitably the focus is on Cristiano Ronaldo. He has been a glittering star of club football for 13 seasons but a nearly man in international football. Two semi-finals and one final from six tournaments is not a bad return (especially in comparison with England in that time), but it feels slightly underwhelming for Ronaldo.

The defeat to Greece on home soil in the 2004 final was the big chance, especially when you consider he had team-mates like Luis Figo, Deco, Rui Costa and Pauleta alongside the then 19-year-old. They have long since departed and the players who have replaced them have not been at the same level, thus making Portugal almost entirely a one-man show.

Ronaldo is good enough to get them so far, but he needs help. Yet, a crop of youngsters who were European Under-21 finalists last summer are emerging and there are high hopes back home for the likes of midfield duo William Carvalho and Joao Mario to provide the platform for their star man to excel.

Imagine if Coventry were in the Euros

THAT is the comparison as Iceland take their bow in a major tournament. The island country in the middle of the North Atlantic has a population of 332,000, only a few thousand more than the city of Coventry, and they are the smallest nation to play on this stage.

They do not have a professional league and not a single one of their 23 players is based at home. Yet, victories home and away in the qualifiers against Holland no less means they are in France this summer and the Dutch are on the beach.

Logic suggests they should be whipping boys, but players like Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea and the evergreen Eidur Gudjohnsen will want to do well now they are here. With Portugal, Austria and Hungary in their group, they have a real fighting chance of reaching the last 16.

Player of the Day: Gabor Kiraly

GABOR KIRALY is expected to become the oldest player to appear in a European Championships at 40 years and 75 days when he lines up in goal for Hungary against Austria. Kiraly spent time at Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Burnley, and Fulham during a nomadic career and he’s now back playing for Haladas in Hungary.

Gabor Kiraly (Christof Koepsel/Bongarts/Getty Images)

But he was probably more famous for always wearing tracksuit bottoms, and they are still his trademark, even at 40! That was the age at which another ‘keeper, Dino Zoff, captained Italy to World Cup glory in 1982, but there are few expecting Kiraly to be a European Champion next month.