1. Who arrives in a better frame of mind?
No matter the quality of teams and what has happened before, finals can often take on a dynamic of their own. So much can come down to the feel on the day; who starts better, who settles better and who is willing to just do what is needed.
It was a point touched upon by Fernando Santos after his Portugal side beat Wales in the semifinal: "The first final I had in my career, somebody said to me: 'Finals are not about playing, they're about winning.'"
France's two-goal semifinal hero Antoine Griezmann came at it from a different perspective: "There's still one match to go to finish with a flourish," he said.
Those comments also reflect the contrasting outlooks of the teams in the build-up to this game. Though they showed more freedom after taking the lead vs. Wales, Portugal have become more comfortable in their constrained counter-attacking game.
The French, meanwhile, have become more confident in their creativity. Even if the hosts did have to play on the break more against Germany, there was still an assured innovation to their play, as best illustrated by Griezmann's one-twos at pace and Paul Pogba's trickery for the second goal.
So far, it feels like France have had the bigger moment, given they eliminated a German side who were world champions and had been such a nemesis throughout their football history. Maybe, though, Portugal feel their history is to come.
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While reality rarely follows the build-up in football, the two Euro 2016 semifinals played out according to the hype, in that they were both decided by stars. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the opening goal and then set up the second in Portugal's 2-0 win over Wales, and Griezmann struck twice in France's own 2-0 victory vs. Germany.
Those performances only deepen the sense of individual duel between the two ahead of the final, while the fact that Ronaldo plays for Real Madrid and Griezmann for Atletico serves only to add further fuel to the fire.
Ronaldo's tournament has so far been defined by seeing off pretenders to his throne as Europe's best player -- he has been involved in the elimination of David Alaba (Austria), Luka Modric (Croatia) and Gareth Bale (Wales) -- but none of them were in form that Griezmann is enjoying.
Ronaldo has equalled Michel Platini's record of nine total goals in the European Championships, but Griezmann has become the first player since the French legend's 1984 haul to hit six in one competition. While Ronaldo is looking for the trophy to crown his international career, for Griezmann success would confirm his status among the elite players in the world.
Then again, as often happens, the big star may not be the final star. For example, Zinedine Zidane's form was indifferent in the 1998 World Cup until the final, in which he scored twice to establish his elite reputation. Perhaps Paul Pogba, or someone else, will follow suit?
3. Has Deschamps at last found his best formation?
As cohesive as France looked on the break in the second half of the semifinal, it only really came about because of Griezmann's mood and circumstances playing into their hands. Having opened the scoring from the penalty spot, the Atletico star played on the break -- utilising his exhilarating pace -- in glorious fashion.
Until then, though, Germany had been the better team and it looked like France manager Didier Deschamps had gotten his starting lineup wrong for the fourth time in six games. That was confirmed when, with the score at 1-0, he brought on N'Golo Kante to free Pogba to play further forwards.
For the final, the question will be whether Deschamps restores Kante to the starting lineup and, if so, can the Leicester midfielder play alongside Blaise Matuidi in a way that gets the best out of both of them and Pogba?
One distinctive theme of Euro 2016 so far has been how big historical trends have been broken. Germany finally eliminated Italy from a tournament for the first time, before France did the same to Germany, using the past positively to inspire their play.
Will it follow that Portugal finally knock out France? The sides' three competitive games -- semifinals at Euro '84, Euro 2000 and the 2006 World Cup -- all went in favour of Les Bleus.
Now they meet with a trophy at stake.
Further, as was so conspicuously mentioned by Ronaldo after the win against Wales, Portugal are looking to rectify what went wrong in 2004, when they lost the final of the tournament they hosted to Greece. Can they now do to France what the Greeks did to them?
No home nation has won the European Championship since France in 1984. Something has to give.
5. Can a former Greece manager help Portugal 'do a Greece?'
Accusations that Portugal are as defensive and unimaginative as the Greek team that denied them 12 years ago have irritated some within their camp, but not the manager. Santos, who was in charge of Greece between 2010-14, has willingly spoken about how he would rather win "ugly" as opposed to going out beautifully and it does seem as if Portugal could frustrate France.
They have a durable defence that sits deep and often only attack with three players. While it helps that one of those is Ronaldo, will that be enough against a French side who have scored more goals -- 13 -- in this competition than any side since 1984? The hosts also have more ways of scoring, including Griezmann runs, Pogba and Dimitri Payet long shots and Olivier Giroud headers.
Given that, it might be too risky for Portugal to try and minimise risk by sitting back. This might be a game where they have to try and give France a bit more trouble and pin them back more, especially since Deschamps' defence has looked rather suspect.
Perhaps a creator like Joao Moutinho could start to prevent the isolation of Ronaldo, which has happened occasionally against better opposition. Such a move could be the best way for Portugal to ruin France's big day.
Miguel Delaney is a London-based correspondent for ESPN FC and also writes for the Irish Examiner and others. Follow him on Twitter @MiguelDelaney.
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